Beyond Tambelon, A Night that Never Ends
by wtdrgn
Summary: 6 ponies, Galaxy, Fizzy, Gusty, Sweet Stuff, Shady, & I, Paradise, were banished to the realm of darkness with Tambelon! This story tells of our exploration through the dark city & what we found beyond it.  alt universe fic
1. Trapped in the Traveling City

Beyond Tambelon, A Night that Never Ends

~*~ an often harrowing journey as recounted by Paradise ~*~

Chapter One: Trapped in the Traveling City

The night Grogar cast his spell to banish all the imprisoned inhabitants of Ponyland to the realm of darkness, Bray brought Galaxy, Fizzy, Gusty, Sweet Stuff, Shady, and I to the throne room to serve as the ram's special slaves. Near midnight, the ruckus of the Troggles' feigned celebration of Grogar's victory changed to the sounds of battle. Grogar rushed upstairs, cursing about a bell. A fragile hope rose from my despair like a single golden arrow of the sun piercing through the oppressive ranks of storm clouds. Mere hours before in the dungeon, I had told Megan and the others the legend of Tambelon's bell and its power to strike Grogar dead.

As I had hoped, shortly after Grogar fled the throne room, the clarion clappers sounded. Their echo pealed across the city, trembling through the stonework, pounding my chest from inside.

"We have to get out of here!" I urged my friends. All too well I remembered Grogar's spell, which even the bell's toll could not alter. The gates of Tambelon would only open upon Ponyland so long as the city kept its solid form. At midnight, those who remained in the city would be banished with it.

We six raced through the castle corridors at a reckless speed, only to find the city of Tambelon spread before us like a maze. Frantically I sought ponies, bushwoolies, and grundles who must also be fleeing for the open gates. The streets were empty.

With growing unease, I galloped down the deserted thoroughfare and spread my wings as I made my skyward leap. "Follow me!" I yelled down to the other ponies. Minute after agonizing minute crept past. "Hurry!" I urged them. Following the path of the winding streets as nearly as possible to guide the ponies galloping below, I led us toward an immense gate. We were still some hundred yards away when the air sizzled and shone as though engulfed in a lightning bolt the size of the dark city. I made a shaky landing and rejoined my friends. We proceeded on foot, spurred to still greater speed from sheer dread.

At last we reached the gate, wide open and unguarded, only to find that none of us dared to be the first to cross the edge of Tambelon into the eerie gray mists beyond.

"Something must be wrong. I don't see anything that looks like Ponyland out there." Shady's voice rose in a panicky whine.

"You always think the worst!" Gusty retorted, but the usual edge in her voice was dulled.

"Even the thickest fog doesn't make Ponyland disappear so completely," Galaxy said. "And I can't sense anything or anyone familiar out there. If our friends were beyond the gate, I would have felt them searching for us. I'm afraid Tambelon has returned to the Realm of Darkness with us in it."

"No," Sweet Stuff whispered. She pawed at the ground and looked from our group to the gates. "How will we ever get home?" Her violet eyes twinkled in spite of the perpetual gloom that hung over the ghostly city, and a tear streaked down her face.

Shady stared around us at the dark buildings and crooked streets. "What are we going to do? It's scary out here."

"Now that the bell has sounded, I don't think there is anything left in Tambelon that can hurt us," I said. "Let us explore Grogar's palace further. We may find a book that explains how the city travels to different realms."

"With such a book, we might be able to return to Ponyland," Galaxy said with such certainty I could have nuzzled her. Few ponies really took my stories seriously, but they trusted Galaxy's intuitions; I couldn't remember a single occasion she had been wrong.

"Can you sense where it might be?" I asked the pink unicorn.

"No," Galaxy said. "The longer we've stayed in Tambelon, the more disoriented I feel. Its like spinning around to get dizzy on purpose, except that I can't stop."

"Okay then," I said. "I'll lead since I've had an aerial view of the streets. Everyone else, choose a partner."

In the end, Fizzy walked with me. Sweet Stuff and Shady took the middle, while Gusty and Galaxy covered the rear.

The six of us hesitated before the castle entrance, like a dark mouth fanged with rocks. The last time we had entered that place, we had not come out for weeks. It seemed cruel and ironic that we were now to reenter just after escaping. But, I reminded myself, we had no reason to return to the dungeon. We could exhaust the entire ground level and upper chambers looking for a library before we had to make that descent. By then – though I hoped not - we might be used to the dark city.

"Are you okay, Paradise? What are you thinking about?" Fizzy said.

Feeling the others' eyes on me, I said, "I was considering which floors we should explore first. I think it would be best to start with the upper chambers."

They agreed at once, perhaps thinking of the bell which had hung high over the city. We had not gone far in the first rocky hallway when I stopped. The wall torches had burned out.

"Gusty, trade places with Fizzy. We'll need you to light our way," I directed. Although the white unicorn could illumine every crack on the castle's ground floor, she kept her light muted, as though it shone through a thick mist.

I felt relived that she did so. The bell had rung, it was true, but the silence it had left behind was thick and oppressive, and my imagination painted unfriendly eyes in every pool of shadows.

The caverns wound and twisted as though we walked in the belly of a great serpent. Before long, we came to the throne room. It distinguished itself from the other stony passages and austere rooms in two ways: the vine-covered columns at its edges and Grogar's unoccupied throne, ram's horns carved of stone and twisted together to form a dais. To aid in our search for books, I asked Gusty to increase the light from her horn. When she did, the shadow of Grogar's throne leaped across the room and stood out in dark relief against the wall. It was as though that ancient ram stood before us many times larger than he had been before.

My heart leaped to my mouth, and I trembled so hard that I could barely speak. The sight left none of the little ponies unfazed. Gusty's eyes went wide and wild; in fear that she would bolt, I babbled for her to lower her light. When she did, the awful shadow disappeared. We six huddled for some time in the silence until I said, as much to reassure myself as them, "There now. Grogar has been struck dead by the bell's ringing." I reached out to nuzzle Shady, who was crying. "This city is just a ghostly wanderer. Unless we overcome our fear and find a way out, we will be forced to travel with it."

We made our search for books a speedy one, aided by Galaxy's suggestion that Gusty remain in the center of the throne room and illumine it while the rest of us explored with the fainter green and pink light that she and Fizzy could provide. Having a specific light to follow would also keep anyone from getting lost. In our present predicament, I doubt any of us could have borne that. While I explored with Galaxy, we found an ornate torch holder mounted on an equally-decorated pole. Galaxy clearly sensed some power from it, for she drew closer, and the light from her horn increased. I was examining the nearby floor, which was strewn with bones and bits of trash when I saw the hindquarters of an animal. Just in time, I suppressed my gasp. Galaxy still heard it, however, and glanced in the direction I was staring.

"Grogar," she whispered so I could barely hear, and certainly the others, involved in their search, would not. Raw chills like those accompanying the worst fever I'd ever experienced snaked through my body. Here Grogar had fallen. The bell tolling out his doom was probably the last sound he had ever heard.

With no words necessary between us, Galaxy and I agreed that we would not tell the others.

While Shady, Sweet Stuff, and Gusty explored the other side of the throne room, they had found a long flight of uneven stairs, which we decided to climb. They led to a hallway as dismal as those on the ground floor, but with two changes. First, the wind, knife-cold in the musty passage, moaned and hissed through the cracks. The second set my heart galloping: the skitter of Troggle feet.

"Do you hear that?" Sweet Stuff whispered.

"Yes," I said, swallowing in anticipation of the unwelcome news I was about to break. "They are Troggles. They will probably be curious about us; they will be attracted by Gusty's light."

"Oh no," Shady said. "Shouldn't we put it out until they go by?"

"The legend says that Grogar's death will rob his minions of their intelligence. I doubt they will bother us. They're like wild animals now." Although I spoke confidently enough, somehow I was also reluctant to find out firsthand.

"Here they come," Galaxy warned.

We froze. My heart beat so loudly I wondered if I were hearing the others' as well. The light faded from Gusty's horn as she huddled against me.

There were only three Troggles, though I suspect there were areas of Tambelon's castle where many more had congregated. One was rotund; the two following were lithe and muscular. They did not walk with purpose, but strayed, perhaps following their sense of smell or hearing. Their booted feet scraped against the ground. I had begun to think of how strange it was, that these goblin-like creatures that once walked as humans, had once carried weapons, had once jailed the denizens of Ponyland and had now become as wild animals still wearing their tunics and helmets. They were coming for us, arms outstretched.

Galaxy lit her horn in the faintest fuchsia it would permit. The Troggles' eyes looked but did not see. Fear held me fast, as though I had been turned to stone. The Troggles regarded us with interest. I wondered if they were hungry. Did the stores they had eaten as intelligent creatures still appeal to them? Were there any left? The night of our escape had been one of celebration. Perhaps they had all been eaten… Suppose in their wildness, the Troggles would want to taste pony flesh? I fought panic and hoped the others had not shared my thought. "Stay still," I whispered. "They will lose interest soon."

It seemed hours that the Troggles circled us, snuffling like dogs and grunting softly among themselves. At last the biggest one drifted away down the hall toward the stairs. The others followed. When their footsteps had faded down the hall, we six collapsed in a heap.

"You'll never tell a ghost story to beat this, Paradise," Fizzy said at last with a nervous little laugh.

"I was scared when they were near us," Sweet Stuff admitted. "But at the same time, I feel sorry for the Troggles. Remember Drog? He didn't seem all that bad."

"Let's keep going," I said. "It's our only hope of escape."

We passed through many corridors, some of smooth rock, and others that were rough and unrefined. The ceilings of the latter frequently consisted of stalactites like strange stony chandeliers. The rooms we explored along the way were devoid of life. Those few that were furnished contained no books.

"What if they don't have books in Tambelon?" Shady said after our search had gone on for quite some time. "Grogar didn't have hands, after all."

"I don't think that's possible," Galaxy said. "Grogar had a clock in his throne room, and his spell specifically was to return Tambelon to the Realm of Darkness at midnight. If he put so much importance on the midnight hour, he must have known about writing too, and considered it important."

"Not necessarily," Gusty said. "The Troggles might have made the clock. Unicorns have magic too, but can't write about it easily."

"There are still many rooms to explore," I said on purpose to end the discussion. "That will tell us what we need to know." Still, I wondered about what Gusty had said. Perhaps we really were looking for a piece of hay in a needlestack.

We had nearly given up the search for that night when we came to a walkway that overlooked the city. Between its columns, there was little to see. Nonetheless, the window and the chilly air coming through it cheered us.

"Why not sleep here tonight?" Gusty suggested. Her forest-green mane and tail rippled in the intermittent gusts. "Ah, the wind feels so good on my face!"

We were about to settle down and rest when Fizzy's light illumined an enormous doorway carved with ornate runes. "Hey, come look at this," she called.

"We've found it," Galaxy whispered. "The library of Tambelon!"


	2. Tambelon's Mirrors

Chapter Two: Tambelon's Mirrors

After a brief discussion, we agreed to forgo sleep. Our energies renewed by hope, we began to explore the library.

Shady sniffled a bit as we walked into the labyrinth of books. "Just think! We might get to sleep in Ponyland tonight after all!"

Dear Shady. When I heard the raw emotion in her voice, I vowed I would take the place apart book by book if necessary to get us back to Ponyland.

Shady, Sweet Stuff, and I each paired up with a unicorn and chose our first books. The tome that Shady took from the shelves fell on its spine. With a cry of dismay, she discovered that the pages had all rotted.

"Don't worry, Shady," Galaxy said. "I think Grogar would have recorded his spell in a newer book since he used it so recently." But the book Galaxy and I opened together contained a new surprise; it was completely illegible.

"Oh no," Galaxy said.

"Is this…" I was afraid to say it, "the language of Tambelon?"

"Hey, what are these funny lines?" Gusty asked nearby.

"It must be," Galaxy said.

When Galaxy and I broke the news to our friends, a sudden weariness descended upon us. Tears and anger, I sensed, would wait until we had rested. We huddled near the windows. I slept little, dreaming that I was running toward the Tambelon gate while mist obscured Ponyland just outside of it. When I woke, gray dawnlight glowed around the columns.

I found Gusty standing in the wind again. Shady and Sweet Stuff were talking quietly while Fizzy and Galaxy still slept. Fizzy woke first, and Galaxy some time later. "We must return to the library," the pink unicorn said before she had even opened her eyes.

"Why? The books are useless," Gusty said.

"I had a dream…" Galaxy said. "There is something there that can help us."

Her soft voice gave me hope, although it was as faint as the light of the Tambelon morning. I let her lead us through a maze of books we could not read. Sometimes Galaxy stopped and closed her eyes, pointing her head in different directions as though a voice we could not hear were telling her the way.

At last we reached a new section of the library in which the shelves gave way to tables piled high with treasure and strange devices. "They are magic," Galaxy explained. "This is what I saw in my dream."

"Wow!" Fizzy said. "I can feel their power, too!"

Gusty's horn, along with the other unicorns', took on a gentle glow. "They're so strong!"

"There's so many of them," Shady said. "How do we know which one will help us?"

"I don't know," Galaxy said. "But finding them is a start."

Once again, we split up to explore the room. Sweet Stuff found a brazier with its tinder and flint on the nearby table. Working together, we lit the flame and split up.

"Why does the rest of Tambelon look so ugly, but the things here are so pretty?" Shady wondered aloud.

"Maybe Grogar had the Troggles serve him and work on these treasures while neglecting everything else," Galaxy said, which seemed like a good explanation to me.

Soon my head ached from the torchlit glint of metals and winking jewels. These were no more helpful than the Tambelon books so far. And we couldn't eat gold or gems. Before long, we would have to find food, and…

A chilling blue light distracted me from my thoughts. It came from an oval-shaped pendant sitting atop a book bigger than me. Perhaps the strangeness of Tambelon was affecting me, but it seemed voices called to me from within the shining stone. I leaned closer, thinking perhaps they were words I could understand. When I did, the necklace leaped from the table and fastened its icy cold chain around my neck. I gasped and backed into another table piled with stacks of paper. The sheets, covered in Tambelon's characters, rained down on me.

"Paradise," called Sweet Stuff, who was closest. "What happened?"

"This pendant seems to have a mind of its own," I answered, meaning the words as a joke. "Come help me pull it off."

Sweet Stuff and I did our best, but the chain bested both of us. "Such powerful magic," Sweet Stuff said with wide eyes.

Although all three unicorns examined the pendant, even Galaxy knew no way to break its hold around my neck. "It seems to mean you no harm in any case, Paradise. Perhaps we should go back to our search."

"At least it looks pretty," Fizzy said after I had concurred with Galaxy.

I resigned myself to wearing the pendant, wondering all the while about its purpose and whether I would discover more sinister properties about the trinket when I had worn it for longer.

I had searched for nearly an hour in a half-distracted state, finding my eye continually drawn to the pendant when Shady called out, "Everyone, come over here quick!"

She stood before three mirrors connected together like the panels of a folding screen. Gazing into their depths, I saw a dim reflection of the library, but also –

"A rainbow!" Fizzy called out. "Sorry," she whispered in response to our alarm at her outburst.

"What a strange rainbow." Galaxy moved so close to the mirror that we could no longer see the reflection of the rainbow. "The colors are…different from the one over Ponyland, darker somehow."

"I think the mirror's just dirty," Gusty said.

"If only we could read about the mirrors," Galaxy mused. "What do they do? Are they for scrying, or can they transport us?"

"Then we'd be here longer than we have to be," Gusty declared with a toss of her head. "Look. I bet we can see better with more light."

"Gusty, don't!" Galaxy warned just as Gusty's horn flared with light. Rather than show more of the landscape encompassed by the rainbow, the light intensified. Its rays pulsed back and forth like a wave in the water. It seemed to me that the white tendrils were reaching for the other panels of the mirror. I wondered what would happened if they met. In mere instants, I found out. Rainbow and reflection vanished from the mirror, swallowed in a storm of white that seared my eyes. Then I was falling. Though I tried to fly free, my efforts could not dislodge me from this radiant vortex that defied both gravity and sense.


	3. Beyond the Traveling City

Chapter Three: Beyond the Traveling City

The white light blinded me as effectively as any darkness. In a vain attempt to reduce my panic, I shut my eyes tight. Doing so attuned me to my friends' cries of surprise and fear, and always, my name, called out in an entreaty for aid I was entirely unable to give. Furthermore, the uncanny nature of our travel - for it must be that the light within the mirrors was sweeping us off somewhere, much like swimmers snared in a strong current – distorted their voices, as though it had smashed them to gravel, then flung the remnants together against a strong wind. Grotesque nonsense assailed me, then buffeted me again in the backlash of its echoes. Unable to tolerate my singular awareness of this unsettling sound, I soon opened my eyes again. In so doing, I discovered the one thing that kept its form in this distorting magical field: the pendant. As I looked on it, the stone's blue aura – a restful sight in this burning white that swallowed even my ability to see myself – increased in intensity and in area. Soon a cloud of blue surrounded me, and I could make out my legs and tail.

Suddenly I became conscious of a mist on my face. The blue faded to the level it had when the pendant and I – strange as it seems to say – first met. I stared and blinked, waiting for my eyes to adjust. Finally I realized that I stood before a thunderous fall of water. And more, it seemed divided into streams of differing hues. How exquisite the sight must be by daylight, I thought. As it was, this rainbow in the dark was rather eerie.

"Paradise!" came the shout. It was Fizzy. She raced toward me, her mane and tail streaming behind her. "You're all right!"

"Yes," I said. "Does anyone know where the mirror has taken us?" I asked when Fizzy had led me to our friends.

They all shook their heads. "Although," Galaxy said, "the waterfall is so familiar. I'm uncertain why."

"Well, staying here won't tell us," I said at last.

With that, we left the waterfall to seek the denizens of this land and learn where the mirror had brought us.

Initially I was overjoyed that we had escaped the dark city. But I quickly came aware of how heavy the air was, as though a storm were about to break, but more... The back of my neck prickled as though unseen eyes watched our trek up and downhill. My friends seemed to feel the same way and walked huddled together. No one dared to speak above a murmur.

Not far from the waterfall, the ground leveled out; we had reached the bottom of a valley. The trees here grew tall, but hunched with bark that hung in ragged strips like torn flesh. In places, the ground was torn. I thought of claws when I saw the furrows and swallowed.

"This place!" Galaxy stopped dead.

"There's a castle up ahead," Gusty said. She increased the light of her horn so we could see.

Wind stirred the tree branches. Shady and Sweet Stuff flinched and drew closer.

The castle was shelter in increasingly inclement weather. Nonetheless, none of us wanted to come near it.

"I think it's going to rain," Fizzy said.

"Is it safe, Galaxy?" Sweet Stuff asked.

"I think the question is: which poses the greater risk? The storm or that place," Gusty said.

"Gusty's right," Galaxy said. Lightning flickered; though it was distant, the wind was moving so fast, the storm was sure to be upon us soon. "We have to go in!" she said suddenly, so loudly, so unexpectedly that fear raced through us like an electric current.

"But it looks scary in there," Shady protested. "I don't mind a little rain. Do you guys?" she said with a plea in her voice.

"This place looks sinister, but it feels sad," Galaxy said.

"What do you mean?" Fizzy said.

"There's no time to explain," Galaxy's voice took on a frantic edge. "Please, we just don't want to be out in the storm!"  
"Listen to Galaxy," I said. "Come on!" Though my legs were leaden, I forced myself into a trot, then a canter toward the decrepit castle. The hoof beats behind me indicated, to my great relief, that they had followed. However, I hesitated before the tomb-like threshold. This was no mere storybook spectral castle where we could ask for shelter, but a genuinely abandoned one, housing only what ghosts were secreted away behind the blasted walls and ruined turrets.

Lightning flickered above, and this time, the thunder growled. I froze, unable to cross from the twilit storm to the deeper shadows of the unknown.

"Come on!" Galaxy urged, whipping past me. Fizzy followed, then Gusty, Sweet Stuff, and Shady. "Get under cover," Galaxy directed them. "Paradise, what are you doing out there? Come in!"

I took a deep breath as though I were about to dive. Wind swept my mane and tail about like currents in a swollen stream. I charged in to prevent myself from delaying any longer. Inside, I discovered Galaxy positioning everyone to keep them dry. They were somewhat separated, owing to the large sections of missing ceiling and walls. What siege, I wondered, had this castle suffered?

"Paradise, stay by Shady and me," Galaxy said.

"That's so close," I said. "Are you sure you don't mind?"

"There is no time to find a place for you alone. The rain is coming. You might get wet," Galaxy said cryptically.

We didn't have long to wait before the rain was drumming on the roof and walls. Soon the wind began to screech-sing its accompaniment. With increasing frequency, thunder shook ground and sky, and lightning sliced through the night.

"So why do you think the rain is dangerous?" I asked Galaxy when I could make my shout heard over the din.

"Don't you see how much darker it has become since it began?" Galaxy said.

"Doesn't all rain do that?" Shady said, puzzled.

As usual, I could not see as Galaxy saw. Nonetheless, my pendant from Tambelon had gone dark, and I wondered if some interfering magic were present.

Often in Ponyland, the sound of rain made me sleepy. It was so here, too. However, my sleep was filled with nightmares and general unease as though I had read an especially scary story beforehand. (Had I not been part of one, myself? Yet I found this place the mirror had brought us to be more disquieting than Tambelon itself.)

I awoke thinking it had been mere minutes since I had closed my eyes. The rain had gone, leaving unsettling puddles that looked like holes cut away from reality. (If this seems a strange description, it was an even stranger sight.) I was just in time to see Gusty attempt to drink from one. Her head shot up, and she spat out what she had managed to take in.

"Guh," the white unicorn gagged. Black ringed her mouth. She wiped at the film furiously with her right front hoof. Her efforts smeared it so that from her nose to her chin, as well as her leg turned dark gray.

"Well, everyone's awake," Fizzy said brightly.

"But where's the sun?" Sweet Stuff said.

"I'm sure it's coming," Fizzy said. "It was overcast last night."

"I'm not so sure," Galaxy said.

"More doom and gloom?" Gusty rolled her eyes.

"Usually a violent storm like last night's will clear the sky."

Before Galaxy could explain further, Sweet Stuff gasped.

"What is it, Sweet Stuff?" Fizzy called.

Sweet Stuff gaped at…whatever it was. Perhaps I was also developing an intuition after so much time with Galaxy, for I sensed that what she had discovered was going to tell us about the place we had come to...and that the revelation would be very harsh indeed.

"But it's just a tapestry," Shady said. "Isn't it?"

Aided by Gusty's light, we examined the woven threads that had alarmed Sweet Stuff.

"A unicorn. A pegasus. An earth pony." Fizzy murmured as she scanned the tapestry. "A forest. A waterfall. A young woman with blonde hair wearing white. I don't get it. What's wrong, Sweet Stuff?"

The rest of us clustered around the needlework in a half-circle in silent speculation. From the first glance, I felt increasingly as though I had viewed that scene many times before. Then memory struck, as sudden as lightning. This was the antique tapestry that supposedly had been hanging in the front hall of Dream Castle since the first ponies in Dream Valley had built it. Northstar had always loved the gloomy old thing, and when the Smooze began flowing toward Dream Castle, she had rescued it. Because the tapestry was too dreary to display in Paradise Estate's main foyer, Northstar had moved it to her room.

What, I wondered, was it doing here? But more importantly, the tapestry was a clue to where we were. We had returned to Ponyland. But what had happened?


	4. A Downpour of Darkness and Dragons

Chapter Four: A Downpour of Darkness and Dragons

"Could this be…Dream Castle?" Sweet Stuff whispered.

"What?" Shady, Gusty, and Fizzy all said at once.

"It's Northstar's tapestry," Sweet Stuff said with a nod to the antique.

"Maybe she gave it to the Grundles," Fizzy suggested. "Maybe they forgot to take it with them. If Dream Castle is in trouble, I bet they would go to Paradise Estate for help."

"There's one way we might find out," I said. "We should look for Paradise Estate."

The others exchanged nervous looks. These ruins of what might have been Dream Castle were spooky, but the unknown terrors of the still-dark countryside made them as reluctant to leave as I was.

Finally we mustered our courage, though it must be said that Galaxy helped by reminding us that we should hurry before the rains returned.

"I don't like this," Galaxy told me after we had traveled an hour from Dream Castle. "The sun should have been up by now."

"Why does the rain have you so afraid?" I asked her.

Galaxy closed her eyes for a moment. "I don't know," she said. "But when it was falling and we were vulnerable under the sky, it was as though a Troggle were coming toward me with a flaming brand."

I didn't understand her analogy then; however, I could sense her fear as strongly as though it originated in my own body.

We traveled down an empty path that led past scraggly bushes and more trees stooped with suffering.

"They're dying from the lack of sunlight," Galaxy said.

In that moment, I understood Gusty's frequent frustration with Galaxy's intuition. The pink unicorn's observation played tricks on my eyes for miles; I kept seeing the limp, starving leaves lean toward the light of Gusty's horn like reaching hands. Whenever I stared directly at them, however, they remained motionless.

Eventually we came to a jagged cliff edge. Other smaller cliffs with sharp points rose from the bottom. These I explored with the aid of Gusty's light, searching for any signs of life on the canyon floor. Fizzy, Galaxy, and the earth ponies, meanwhile, investigated the area near the edge as best as they could. To my disappointment, the canyon seemed as devoid of life as the other parts of this strange Ponyland. Then, to make matters worse, Gusty's light went out. "Gusty," I called. "I need that light!" I thought, naively, that something had distracted her, perhaps the others' search. Then I dared to hope that the five of them had found someone who could help us. Pony, bushwoolie, anyone! Cautiously, I flew back to the summit, using the rock face as a guide. Vague recollections came to mind, of my mother warning me the dangers of night flight. Until now, I had never undertaken the challenge, and my slowness set my teeth on edge.

Before I could reach the top, screams broke the oppressive silence. As if to mock my inability to rush to their aid, the cries echoed off the rock faces. Terrified for my friends, of what I would find at the top, I flew a short distance from the cliff, then shot straight upward, all the while searching desperately for the lights which would show me where solid ground was. All was shadow and blackness below. Trembling, I shut my eyes, determined that the sounds would guide me to whatever horrors awaited.

As I floundered about, disoriented by noises wholly unhelpful and their echoes, a great wind rushed toward me. I opened my eyes just in time to see an immense flying creature hurtling straight for me. I made a desperate dive but still struck its scaled belly. A roar reverberated through my ears as I plummeted into a crash landing. For several minutes, I lay there staring dazedly at four winking lights in pink, white, green, and lavender. At first I thought they would fade when the pain in my stomach and legs had subsided, when the grip upon my lungs had relaxed. However, when the air returned with stinging sweetness, they still shone with a faint glitter I recognized: unicorn light. I galloped after them on foot so I would not risk going over the edge.

"Paradise!" came Sweet Stuff's whisper. "Over here!"

I found her huddled in a stony ditch.

"They're circling above the clouds," said a voice near me. "Keep as still as stone." I thought it was Galaxy's, but the more I listened the more certain I became that I had never heard it before.

"What about Apple Jack?" Another voice I did not recognize. "She's still out there."

"There's nothing you can do for her." A third voice! Despite our immediate danger, my heart dared to hope. The other ponies had found help. Perhaps when the creatures in the sky had gone, they could tell us what had happened to Ponyland.

"Look! That dragon is carrying a pony away!" Without a doubt, it was Fizzy. Before she finished her sentence, the lightning that had allowed her to see the gruesome sight flickered out.

"It's horrible," Sweet Stuff whispered.

"It's life," the third voice declared. "You must be a very ignorant little pony to have been unaware of the stratodons' doings."

"No! That's Apple Jack!" The second voice. "I should have made certain she was behind us."

"The are stratodons are fighting among themselves." The first voice again. "I think it's safe now to go back to our cave. They won't notice now they have their prey."

"You mean they eat ponies?" Shady sounded panicked.

My throat clenched, and my heart struggled like a small animal in a trap. How near my blind flight had brought me to being eaten, myself!

"If they're hungry, they will eat her. Often they drag ponies off for sport," the third pony said.

Gusty lit her horn. By its light, I saw that the third speaker was a blue earth pony with draggled and dirty yellow ribbons tied in her tangled pink hair. Her face, thin from hardship, made her already wild eyes seem about to leap from their sockets.

"Who are you?" Gusty said. "I've never seen you at Paradise Estate."

"My name is Bowtie. And you six are strangers here. Where is this 'Paradise Estate'?"

"There is no time for this!" Soft lavender light engulfed the speaker, who I saw was a pale pink unicorn. "We must hurry back underground!"

"Can we come with you?" Sweet Stuff said.

A look flashed between Bowtie and the strange unicorn. I wondered if enduring long in dangerous times had given the earth pony and the unicorn the ability to communicate without words, an ability I understood to exist between unicorns alone.

"I don't know if we can trust you," Bowtie said. "What if you are one of Tirek's tricks?"

"'Tirek?'" Shady said. "Is he the reason Dream Castle is in ruins?"

"How do you know about Dream Castle?" Bowtie demanded.

"I smell rain," said a pink pegasus with a wild blue mane and tail. "Twilight, Bowtie, I trust them. Even if they don't know anything about the Night that Never Ends. They cared about Apple Jack and Dream Castle. Please consider them my friends."

I smiled gratefully her. "Thank you," I said. "My name is Paradise."

"Mine's Firefly," she said. "We can introduce the others later. We need to leave. That rain's coming!" As she turned, I saw by the light of four unicorn horns that one of her wings was shriveled and burned. My own ached in sympathy. She would never fly again . How, I wondered, had it happened? Perhaps she had been in a fight with the dragons. I resigned myself to yet another mystery, since it would be rude to ask her about the injury.

"Firefly…" Bowtie whispered. "You always were the daredevil of Dream Valley."

"But her intuition is strong. Perhaps from all those foolish chances she takes." Twilight winked at the pink pegasus pony. "Follow me. There is a series of caves near here where we hide. I have enchanted their openings to look exactly like the neighboring rock."

"Then that's why we didn't find anything," Fizzy and I said at the same time. The green unicorn and I laughed together. Things did not seem so bleak now that we had found these other ponies.

I fell into step beside Firefly. When she spoke, her eyes and voice were far far away. "Applejack…" she murmured. "How she loved her apples. After the sun set for the last time, she continued looking for them. I hope wherever she has gone, the powers are kind and grant her an entire orchard."


	5. The Night that Never Ends

Chapter Five: The Night that Never Ends

Twilight, Bowtie, and Firefly's cave proved nothing like those in Tambelon. Unlike the passages of the wandering city, which were wrought by tools and hard labor, the interior of this hideout owed its shape to water, wind, and time.

Once we were all inside, Twilight motioned us to a small pool fed by drops that fell from the ceiling. We drank as much as we could, for the journey had been a long one without water

"We have no food," Bowtie said but without a trace of shame. "Should you choose to remain here, we will go to the nearby hill and graze…when the wind says it's safe."

At Twilight's request, Gusty cast a spell that lit up not only her horn, but her whole body. Gathered around her, we shared our stories.

First I recounted how we six had been pulled into the Realm of Darkness along with Tambelon and brought here by the unknown power of that three-paned mirror.

"It is good to hear your story," Bowtie said at the end. "The telling has taken my mind off our problems."

"Then I am sorry to remind you of it," Galaxy said. "But what has happened here?"

"Our troubles here in Dream Valley center around Tirek," Twilight said. Although I have told and heard many stories, her voice enthralled me at once, and I wondered if she had told many stories in times of peace. "He is a centaur who lives north in Midnight Castle. He sent the stratadons to capture four ponies he needed to pull his chariot of Midnight. Flying thus over the land, he unleashed his Rainbow of Darkness and began the Night that Never Ends."

"After the first raid, I flew to seek help," Firefly said. "But the storm that follows the stratadons wherever they go was still roiling in the sky. Lightning struck my wing and injured it so severely I can no longer fly. I am fortunate to have survived the fall it caused."

"Whom did you seek, flying in that storm?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," Firefly said. "Through my anger at the stratadons and my fear, I felt a pull west, beyond the rainbow."

"This may sound unlikely," I said, "but Tambelon's magic is very strange; there is little about it that we actually understand. We six once lived in a castle called Dream Castle. I believe it is the same one you inhabited. The tapestry in the front hall is the same –"

"Do you mean the one that shows the legend of Dream Valley?" Firefly said.

"Yes," I said. "The only reason we no longer live in Dream Castle is because we gave it to our friends, the Grundles, though that is another story. The legend states that whenever this land is in trouble, a girl named Megan will come to its aid. I have often thought she is the white-robed woman in the tapestry. Megan can only enter Ponyland if one of us bring her. Perhaps you were looking for Megan, as well. Suppose I fly west and find her?"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Firefly said. "After the lightning destroyed my wing, I begged Medley, another pegasus pony, to go west. Medley was timid to begin with. After the first stratadon raid, she refused to leave Dream Castle. She was afraid to fly outdoors when she saw my wing. It wasn't until Tirek succeeded in bringing about the Night that Never Ends that Medley found her courage. She left for the West ages ago but never returned. I fear Tirek has used his power to isolate his kingdom and Dream Valley from outsiders."

"In other words, it's up to us to save Dream Valley," Bowtie said.

"How are you going to do it?" Fizzy said. "It sounds like you have an idea already."

"There is a great wizard called 'the Moochick' who lives east of here," Twilight said. "We have debated many times since the Night began whether we should seek his aid. Although his realm is neighbor to ours, he is reclusive, and we ponies saw no reason to disturb him. There is no guarantee that he will help us."

"Or that he survived Tirek's triumph," Bowtie added.

"You have to try!" Fizzy said.

I shared a smile with my friends from Paradise Estate. Even the Night that Never Ends could not stifle the green unicorn's effervescence.

"Fizzy, I like you," Firefly said. "We think alike."

"Gee, we do?" Fizzy looked around, blank-faced.

"Well, you reach the same conclusions anyways, even if your thought processes are different," Twilight said wryly.

"The alternative is waiting here and eventually perishing in darkness. That's if the stratadons don't get us while we're grazing first," Firefly said.

"Firefly has made this point before," Bowtie said. "But somehow it seems a different matter with the arrival of our new friends."

"Although our chances are slim, I shall go seek the Moochick," Twilight said. "It is high time we defied Tirek."

"I'm going too!" Firefly said. "I would have gone before, but I would have worried about all of you hiding back here."

Bowtie coughed, and Twilight pawed at the ground.

"Not to mention I don't know anything about magic," Firefly said. "I wouldn't know what to tell a Moochick if I found one."

"We will all come, too, of course," I said. "Perhaps Mr. Moochick can help us return to Paradise Estate, too."

"Then, you have had dealings with this wizard before?" Twilight said.

"Yes," I started to say before I was interrupted by Gusty.

"He's an absent-minded old codger who never remembers who we are, even though we've seen him about a hundred times for help," the white unicorn informed them.

After Gusty's description of the Moochick's shortcomings, even Firefly was looking at the cave opening with reluctance.

"Is it wise to seek his help, then?" Twilight said.

"Gusty is very impatient," I hurried to say.

"Paradise is right," Sweet Stuff said. "I'm sorry, Gusty, but you are." Gusty glowered at the blue pony. "Anyhow," Sweet Stuff continued, her voice faltering somewhat as all the ponies in the cave turned to her, "The Moochick has helped us so many times against witches and Crunch the Rockdog, with golden horseshoes and magic coins!" But the ponies who had seen Eternal Night fall weren't convinced. To borrow Galaxy's favorite phrase, I could "sense it." Then Sweet Stuff made an addition that utterly changed our fortunes. "They say that he's the one who gave the ponies the Rainbow of Light!"

"A Rainbow of Light," Twilight whispered. "That sounds like just the thing to defeat Tirek. If only we had one." The longing in her voice was so powerful that my own heart ached.

"Maybe we can," Firefly said, pausing halfway out the cave entrance. "Come on!"


	6. The Change

Chapter Six: The Change

Upon waking that sunless morning, six of us had set out west from Dream Castle. Now our party consisted of nine ponies, and we turned east at an hour as uncertain as we felt.

Twilight led the way, seeking the Moochick's magic with her own. Though I walked with her and strained to see the resemblance between this land and my home, I remained, if you will pardon the unfortunate phrase, in the dark. I concluded that centuries must lie between this dismal parody of Ponyland and my own time. The mysterious history might have been fascinating had I been safe at home. Here in the wilds, however, it was just another frustration.

All in shadow, we nine ponies crossed valley, hill, stream, and fields with paths at their periphery.

"Such pleasant walks we once had." Bowtie sighed.

"And flights," Firefly said.

At length we came to a rickety wooden bridge. I first thought the weathered planks had been laid over some abyss with stars twinkling purple and blue in its depths. Then I realized these were waters.

"It used to be a small river," Twilight said. "But the dark rain ate its banks. Be careful, everyone. If you fall in, being swept away is the least of your worries."

"I sense some sort of power from it," Galaxy said from behind us.

"Those who fall in this water change," Twilight said. A shudder passed through her and Bowtie at the word. For a wonder, even the bold Firefly gave an uncomfortable twitch.

"What do you mean by 'change'?" I asked as we crossed.

"I will tell you on the other side," Twilight said. In the light of her horn, I saw sweat shining on her face and flanks. "Crossing this bridge can't be done with half your attention."

I suppose the question was rather inconsiderate given their challenge from which my wings exempted me. Nonetheless, it was with considerable impatience that I waited for them on the other side, reining in my curiosity. It hardly helped to realize that should something go awry on that rickety bridge, there was little I could do to rescue my friends.

They crossed in single-file in this order: Twilight, Shady, Fizzy, Bowtie, Galaxy, Firefly, Gusty, and Sweet Stuff. The going was slow because, in addition to the warped and possibly rotted state of some of the planks, there were no few gaps between the boards, large gaps for that matter. A pony unfortunate enough to tumble into such a one would surely fall to her unknown fate in the river.

All that day, clouds had hung overhead, ponderous, as though they watched our doings and disapproved. During that fateful crossing, they thickened. The heavy air did likewise. Lightning sparked from the clouds' undersides.

"Look out!" I called.

It seemed an age before Twilight reached the opposite side. Shady followed. "Come on!" she urged the others. At her call, or perhaps it was the challenge of the thunder, Bowtie hunched down, then leaped from her position like an unleashed spring. Her landing forced her to gallop some distance down the hill.

"Mushrooms ahead! The Moochick's place is near!" Bowtie called.

"They'll never make it!" Twilight moaned, her eyes haunted.

"Can't you wink across?" I shouted to Fizzy, Galaxy, and Gusty.

"It's too far to wink!" Fizzy shouted back.

"Bubbles, then?" I yelled.

Fizzy shook her head. "The change!"

I swallowed. If even our oft-times bubblehead had an intuition about the still-undisclosed magic, it must be powerful indeed.

"Run ahead," I urged Twilight, Shady, and Bowtie. "I will fly as high as I dare and lead them to where you are."

"There is little choice," Twilight said in a resigned, grim voice as Galaxy stepped from the bridge to the withered grass on the other side.

Firefly followed close behind, unintimidated by heights, despite the loss of her wing. "These clouds hide no dragons," Firefly said. "Trust me. I have flown through enough of them. It is only the dark rain that threatens us today. It may be the lesser of two evils, but it still enough."

"What does the rain do?" Galaxy voiced my very question. "I have sensed its evil since we arrived."

"There is no time! Follow me!" And Twilight tore off toward the Mushromp.

Lightning flashed more frequently as I hovered, painfully aware of what a prime target I made. At last Gusty and Sweet Stuff stepped off that wooden death trap. Three lights shone faint in the distance. I cursed that we had not sent Gusty ahead to illumine our way. Then we began our frantic sprint for the Mushromp. When I reached the outskirts, the lights went out. I guessed their owners were huddling frantically under the house-sized mushrooms that grew there. The Moochick's home was nowhere to be seen.

Against the wind's mad strength, we three fought for every inch forward into deepening darkness. No trace of light remained to guide us to the bottom of the hill. How I wished Gusty could hear me over that battle-din of a wind and its thunder drummers; I would have called for her to wrap me in her light. I made a clumsy landing, cursing that I could not choose where for the turbulence. I longed to search for Gusty and Sweet Stuff and bring them to safety with me under the mushroom, but I could already hear the rain in the leaves.

"Help! Help!" came the faint voices.

It was Gusty and Sweet Stuff! I screamed their names, and as I did, the skies opened. I wept then, cowering from the rain, from my terror. I could no more attempt to help them than willingly walk through fire.

Meanwhile, a black wave swept over Gusty and Sweet Stuff. Blue electricity leaped about the periphery, and red flame raged at the center. In mid-scream, Gusty and Sweet Stuff's voices changed from frightened pony voices helpless against this monstrous, overpowering storm, to ground-shuddering roars. Steam rose now from the site; from it, two creatures emerged from it, dragons both. Their muscles gleamed, rain-wet, in the nightmarish lightning. I longed to shut my eyes to the sight, yet found I could not tear my gaze away. Their serpentine necks, muscles upon muscles, fangs fully twice my height, cruel claws, scales in purple and midnight blue – their horrific transformation burned into my brain.

The violet dragon called to the midnight blue. I tried to remember which had been Shady and which Gusty and found that I couldn't. They flew away into the rain, I assumed to join the other dragons and…Tirek.


	7. Moochie and Mochichi

Chapter Seven: Moochie and Mochichi

For hours, the rain kept on without cease. The lightning had also died in this downpour. I mingled my tears with the water, wondering if, should this area flood, the change might take my friends and me as well.

When I at last rejoined the other ponies, it fell to me to tell them what happened. Bowtie, Twilight, and Firefly shook their heads with a grim air I had never seen any little pony assume.

"That can't be!" Fizzy said in teary-eyed disbelief. "They were right behind us!"

"Are you sure you saw correctly, Paradise?" Shady said.

"There is no time to discuss this," Firefly interjected. "We have to find the Moochick if we're to have any hope of getting our friends back."

"The way ahead is practically a mire," Galaxy said. "If we walk through that standing water, will 'the change' befall us?"

"Only falling rain can cause the change. I'm sorry, everyone. I should have explained the rain while we were still in the cave," Twilight said, hanging her head.

"Well, at least the dark rain loses its power when it meets the ground," I said, although I didn't feel cheered in the least.

Sorrow made my legs drag, and so I found myself at the tail end of our sodden, muddy company.

Galaxy sought me there and spoke in a voice that was low, even for her. "Paradise," the pink unicorn said, "We're fully a part of what's happening here now."

"Huh?" Mud sucked at my hoofs in an attempt to root them to the ground. With great mental effort, I shifted my concentration from the muck.

"Sweet Stuff and Gusty were caught in the dark rain, just as many ponies of this time surely were. The Moochick might know a way for us to get back to Paradise Estate, Megan, and the others. But I don't think we should leave without saving our friends. What if we can't return to this place?"

"You're right." As I pulled my legs free, it did not seem possible to feel more weary.

At last we reached the curving footbridge that spanned the clouded, swollen pond in front of the Moochick's house. Mud spattered the once-white sides of the mushroom-shaped abode, and part of the roof was missing. As we drew nearer, a shrill voice cut across the Mushromp.

"Moochie, this is unacceptable! How are we supposed to survive the dark rain with part of the roof collapsed?"

"Moochie" must have said something I could not make out, because a short time later, the shrill voice added, "How did you escape it for so long? This place is such a disgraceful mess!"

"Mr. Moochick!" I heard Fizzy call. Galaxy and I hurried around the corner of his house. A reed-thin woman towered over the squat, green-clad wizard, scolding him.

"Mister?" the woman tucked a stray white hair behind her ear and secured it into her bun with a hairpin. "You can't be calling Moochie 'Mister,' surely? He doesn't deserve that respect."

"But the Moochick has helped us so many times!" Fizzy said.

"I did? When was this?" The Moochick bumbled toward us, flustered. "And for that matter, who are you?"

I wasn't sure who was more embarrassed at that point, the woman, who rolled her eyes skyward, or the little ponies from Paradise Estate. So much for the great wizard Twilight had expected. I felt certain if Gusty had been here, she would have given the Moochick the rough side of her tongue.

"You must have known things here were bad," the Moochick said, evidently continuing a prior conversation with the woman. "Why did you come back from your studies in that 'China' country?"

"Just to harangue you, dear brother."

"Brother?" Shady exclaimed. "I didn't know the Moochick had a sister!"

"Why of course!" The woman wasn't nearly so imposing when she smiled. In fact, she looked almost as kindly as the Moochick himself. "I'm Mochichi, Moochie's older sister and esteemed wizardess. You can call me Chichi for short."

"A great wizardess, huh? I've never heard of her…" Fizzy looked confused.

"Neither have I," Galaxy whispered with a meaningful glare at Fizzy. "But we mustn't be rude."

"I heard that!"

"You must forgive us, Chichi," I said hurriedly. "We six have come from another world, where I am certain the Moochick doesn't have a sister."

"Unless he forgot about her," Fizzy said.

"That's not unlikely," Chichi said. "But perhaps you otherworldly creatures count differently than we do here. Or you just don't know how to count. Moochie forgets sometimes. But I see seven little ponies in Moochie's front yard, not six."

"Oh, about that," Fizzy started to say but couldn't finish.

"The dark rain," Galaxy said, coming alongside Fizzy to nuzzle her. "It took two of our companions."

"We three have always lived here." Bowtie nodded to Twilight and Firefly.

"And it's very sad to see Dream Valley fallen to this state," Twilight said.

"That's why we came to the Moochick for help, to figure out how to stop it," Firefly said.

"I see," Chichi and the Moochick said at once.

"Well, it won't be easy," the Moochick said. "But since you are from another world, there just might be a way."

"Where do you think you're going?" Chichi said, hands on her hips, as the Moochick started for the house.

"I know I read about it in a book somewhere," we heard him mumble.

"Please come in," Chichi said. "But try not to track in more mud. And please don't think ill of Moochie's hospitality. It's just that his place is small and full already."

At first I thought she meant full of the Moochick's books and various junk collections. Then I saw what appeared to be a gargoyle seated on a stool near the fireplace. In the faint light, I could only make out large wings and beneath them, the muscular back and shoulders, very like those of a human man but covered with coarse hair or fur. Our new friends seemed to recognize this creature.

"You! The stratadon rider!" Firefly exclaimed.

"What is he doing here?" Bowtie demanded.

"My name is Scorpan." The beast-man rose, and something slithered behind him. It was, as I would see later, a tail. I swallowed, afraid to approach. "You needn't be afraid. I have deserted Tirek." Though his eyes were small, they were not entirely inscrutable. The sadness that emanated from them startled and unsettled me.

"How does that help? Now that the Night has fallen…" Firefly shook from rage.

"Please don't fight." Chichi peered at us from around the library door, a tome that probably weighed more than she did balanced in her hands. "Scorpan speaks truly of his loyalties. He hides here because Tirek has a price on his head for deserting. Should Tirek's agents or the stratodons find him, it would be his death."

Scorpan opened his mouth as though he would add something, then, scowling, returned to his solitary vigil by the fireplace.

"He really isn't a bad creature, that Scorpan," Chichi said absently as she flipped through the pages in the tome. "He is prone to the sulks, though. He has a stratodon somewhere too. Active critter, must be young. I thought you should know so you wouldn't be afraid."

All of us ponies stiffened.

"Don't worry!" Chichi assured us. "Spike wouldn't hurt a fly. Don't tell, but I think he's a little cutie. I always want to pinch his cheeks – when he holds still long enough."

"Spike?" Shady whispered. "Can it be?" A smile broke through the worry and fear that clouded her face.

"I found it!" came the Moochick's triumphant shout.

"Everyone, to the library!" Chichi directed us.

Somehow the nine of us – seven little ponies, Chichi, and the Moochick – managed to fit in the library, reduced to half its area because of the damaged roof. A foul smell of rotting paper and wood filled the room.

"I was worried this book was one doused in dark rain," the Moochick admitted, motioning to the tome he had spread out on the table. "I always did mean to get the roof replaced…"

"Never mind, Moochie. What does the book say?" Chichi said. The others pressed nearer in anticipation.

Something dark moved in the corner of my eye. I glanced back to the eerie ember-lit room to see Scorpan in the doorway. At first I thought he was blocking our way, and dread rose to my throat. Then I realized that he wanted to listen, too. Strange allies in a strange place, I reflected.

"Had the Night that Never Ends not come to pass," the Moochick said gravely, "we might have stopped Tirek by reuniting the Rainbow of Light with the Rainbow of Darkness." The green-clad wizard reached into his coat pocket.

"Uh, what are you looking for?" Twilight asked.

"I thought I had that Rainbow of Light somewhere," the Moochick said sheepishly.

"I have it here." Chichi produced the heart-shaped locket with a snap of her fingers.

"Why did you move it, Mochichi?" the Moochick said. "You know I can find everything if you only leave it exactly where I put it."

"Where you carelessly drop it, you mean?" Chichi said. "Well, it is no matter. I give it to you now. Its powers are severely dimmed because of this infernal endless night. Even so, it may yet be of help to you. Who shall wear it?"

We ponies looked to one another, uncertain. At last Firefly stepped forward. "I will."

"Very good," Chichi said. "Now returning to the matter of Tirek." She looked at the Moochick, who was staring into space. "AHEM!"

"Huh? What? Oh. Yes, Tirek. Now that he has obtained the height of his powers, you will need a day-forged weapon to defeat him."

"Where do we get one?" Twilight asked.

The Moochick began to rattle off a catalog of places I had never heard of before. Even Galaxy, with all her arcane knowledge and intuition, shook her head. "Don't any of these places sound familiar, ponies from another world?" the Moochick asked after he had paused for breath.

"No, Mr. Moochick," Galaxy was forced to admit.

I could see the growing worry in Firefly, Bowtie, and Twilight's faces.

"Keep trying," I encouraged him.

But the new lists only brought more confusion. Soon it was as though I didn't hear the names of real places; they were just nonsense syllables. Suddenly Shady yelled out, "Stop!"

"What, what is it?" the Moochick said.

"Didn't you just say 'Tambelon'?"

"Why yes, I did."

"Tambelon," I whispered. "Before coming here, we were trapped in that city."

"It must be quite a story," Chichi said, her eyes narrowed with keen interest. "Moochie, find Tambelon's day-forged weapon in the index."

"It is called 'the Day-blade,'" the Moochick said.

"Do you remember the back wings of the library?" Galaxy asked us.

"And all the treasures that were there," Shady added.

"The only beautiful things in Tambelon," I said.

"Mr. Moochick," Fizzy said, "how are we going to get back to Tambelon to retrieve the Dayblade?"

"I'm sure I have an item from the University that can help," Chichi said. "Three unicorns to power it should be more than enough to help you reach the vanishing city."

"Wow, really? That's terrific!" Fizzy did a little side-stepping dance toward the door.

"When can we try it?" Galaxy said.

"As soon as possible would be best," Chichi said. "But I see you are weary from travel and facing the dark rain. Rest a while, and then come see me."

We seven stretched out as best as we could on the Moochick's living room floor. Scorpan, I noticed, had slunk away. I wondered where he had gone and whether he would sleep indoors with us in this area slightly less spacious than the cave we had left.

"My, my, my," the Moochick said when he had finished his dabblings in the library. "I don't think I've ever had so many guests at once. I hope you don't think badly of my hospitality."

"That's okay Mr. Moochick," Fizzy said. "You're a huge help to us just the way you are! And we'll do our part, so don't you worry!"

Bowtie and Shady moved over so the Moochick could perch on his fireside stool.

"Chichi told me she would like to rest before attempting the spell. Time really doesn't mean much when it's always night, but according to her watch, it is evening. She feels it would be auspicious to do it early in the morning."

"Okay!" Fizzy agreed with enough enthusiasm for all of us.


	8. Waiting for the Dayblade

Chapter Eight: Waiting for the Dayblade

When Chichi was ready, she beckoned us up the stairs to a room so small I thought it was a closet at first.

"It's tiny in here, so better perhaps for the unicorns only to enter," the Moochick's sister said. "The rest of you can watch until we actually begin the spell. After that, there won't be much to see. Come." And she beckoned Twilight, Galaxy, and Fizzy to stand around a circular wooden table. A magnificent crystal occupied its center. The candlelight from the corners of the room caught in the crystal's facets and seemed to spread a sunrise on the walls. "This is a traveler's crystal," Chichi said. "It will enhance the power of a unicorn's teleportation to take you far, as far as Tambelon has gone. You three and the crystal will supply the power. I will direct your course. And when the Dayblade is in your possession, Moochie will join the spell to bring you back."

"It sounds so easy," Galaxy said, a bit of hesitation in her voice.

"But of course!" Chichi flourished her wand made of a substance similar to that of the traveler's crystal. "You are in good hands, for I am a wizardess of great renown here and in other lands. And though Moochie is rather silly much of the time, his power and knowledge are to be respected as well."

"The difficult part is not finding the weapon," a gravely voice said behind us. "Rather it is the battle with Tirek where the challenge lies."

"You are half correct, Scorpan," Chichi said. Her eyes glinted cat-green. "Without Moochie and I to help you, reaching Tambelon and retrieving the Dayblade would be as difficult as defeating Tirek. The same is true if these three unicorns were not with us to lend their power. To overcome one such as Tirek requires all of us to contribute our powers for that one end."

Scorpan scowled, and his footsteps were heavy on the wooden floor. "Don't mind him," Chichi said. "He is already grumpy from being cooped up at the Mushromp. Now that he perceives he is beholden to those other than Moochie and I, well, you saw his reaction."

"What about the spell?" Twilight said.

"Ah, yes. You three simply must teleport, concentrating your energies into this crystal. But do not proceed until you are ready. Once you leave, you will not be able to come back, save joining your powers together. And when you return to the Mushromp, the traveler's crystal will work no more."

"We must be certain to have the Dayblade in our possession, then," Twilight said.

"Precisely," Chichi said.

"No problem!" Fizzy exclaimed. "I've been ready since yesterday! How about you, Galaxy?"

"Yes, I think so." Galaxy turned to Twilight. "And you?"

"Yes." Twilight bent her head to the crystal.

The light of unicorn magic added strange colors to the wall. The crystal seemed unchanged. However, all three unicorns disappeared and did not return.

"Unicorns can't wink through walls, so I guess they are on their way," I said.

"What now?" Firefly said with such energy, I supposed she was ready to storm Tirek's place even without the Dayblade.

"We must be patient," Chichi said. "It will take them at least a day. Perhaps more if they run into complications in Tambelon."

I thought of the darkness of the traveling city which we had left behind for this spectral dream valley, of the Troggles and the fallen form of Grogar. No, I did not envy the unicorns' quest in the least.

The other ponies went downstairs discussing what they had seen. Before I could follow them, Chichi said, "Won't you come in, my dear? I sense a magic about you, too."

We met on the side of the table facing the door. Chichi knelt before me, and it was then that I remembered the pendant. So much had happened since it latched itself around my neck in Tambelon, I had nearly forgotten that I wore it.

"How beautiful," the Moochick's sister said. "It is of Tambelon make, is it not?"

"It is!" I exclaimed. "Do you know how to get it off?"

Chichi chuckled softly. "A strange and fickle magic rules this kind of pendant. The Tambelon wizards never lacked originality, I must say, though it sometimes came at the expense of practicality."

I remained silent, waiting for her answer.

"No, I am afraid it cannot be removed easily. It would require me to search in the libraries of Tambelon itself."

I sighed in frustration.

"Take heart, little pony. Pendants such as these are drawn to natural story tellers. You do like stories, don't you?"

"Oh yes," I said. "Very much!"

"Well, I have some wonderful books in my trunk I must show you. Stories from strange and distant lands that will dazzle you. Ah, but where was I?"

For the first time, I saw the family resemblance between the Moochick and his sister.

"Oh yes, your souvenir from Tambelon. Pendants of this make latch themselves to storytellers such as yourself and compose records through enchanted writing."

I blinked in confusion. "But my friends and I have been through so much… I have never seen this pendant write anything."

"The pendant has a long memory, I imagine." Chichi cupped it in her hand and examined it with a critical eye. "It is well over a thousand years old. Should you find a book similarly enchanted so the pendant might communicate with it, you would have a memoir to rival even the most diligent journal keeper. It need not be of Tambelon-make," she added. "Journals that can resonate with enchanted items are popular among magi everywhere. Moochie might have one in his library that we can find for you later."

"That's wonderful!" I said, thinking that if we ever returned to Paradise Estate, the pendant could be invaluable for showing our friends what had happened to us after Tambelon disappeared.

Sudden light danced down the length of the traveler's crystal and echoed the pattern in Chichi's wand.

"What does that mean?" I asked Chichi.

"That is the unicorns' power, still flowing strong," the wizardess said. "They'll be a while yet. I won't keep you any longer."

Not, I thought, that there was much to do around the Mushromp. But if Chichi needed to concentrate on her spell, I had no wish to disturb her. I went downstairs and sat with Shady and our new friends. Bowtie was just relighting the fire.

"I want to do something for the Moochick and Chichi," I said. "Because of them, we have hope again."

"What can we possibly do for wizards?" Shady wondered.

"Hmm…"

I had begun considering the possibilities while staring into the flames when Scorpan spoke. "Why would you want to repay the Moochick and Mochichi? They benefit, too, if the Night that Never Ends is stopped." The strange creature had situated himself in the rafters.

The other ponies and I exchanged looks that, without words, articulated how crude we found Scorpan.

"Oh Scorpan, don't be such a cynic."

That voice! I would know it anywhere. "Spike?" I gasped. I was so excited that I flew right into the rafters and perched there with no thought for the gargoyle-like being.

Our "baby dragon" was no longer a baby, however, having grown as tall as Scorpan. His cuddly body had hardened to a living sculpture of rocky angles and hard, lean muscles. Graceful wings of a rich emerald color arched from the amethyst scales of his back. I suspected, furthermore, that this was only the adolescence of his kind, and that with time, he would increase in size and strength.

"Gee…" Spike scratched his head. "I'm sure we never met. How did you know my name?"

"It's…a long story," I said.

A scowl deepened the wrinkles between Scorpan's eyes. "Well, if you insist on parading your gratefulness, the Moochick's roof needs fixing."

"Good idea!" Shady got to her feet at once. "Gee, this is exciting! We've never gotten to help the Moochick with anything before! What about you, Bowtie? Firefly? Would you like to help?"

Shady's excitement was contagious. Laughing and chattering about their ideas, the three ponies pranced toward the door.

"Just how will you earth-bound ponies be of any help?" Scorpan said before they got there.

"We'll work together," I told Scorpan with no small amount of satisfaction, "just like Chichi said. And we'll get it done."

Our self-appointed task proved more difficult than we had anticipated. As the only pegasus, I took on most of the work beyond gathering supplies. Removing the ruined parts of the roof was easy enough; I let them rain down to ground below, and Shady, Bowtie, and Firefly cleared the rubble away.

Then the time came to fill in the hole that was left.

We tried to rig a primitive pulley system so I didn't have to come down from the roof every time I wanted something; however, the blink-quick drop of a bucket of shingles and the explosive crash-boom-bang put an end to that.

On top of everything else, the Night pressed around us, obliterated all sense of time in a single stationery moment. The pendant's glow could only illumine the outline of the roof and never with the precision I desired. It was too dangerous for the earth ponies to attempt to climb up with me, and I didn't dare bring a lantern.

I quickly repented of the fun I'd had kicking damaged shingles over the side. Suppose the dark rain started and came through the opening before I had closed it? Not that ruined shingles had afforded much protection before, but I would feel responsible since this had been my idea.

I had laid about ten shingles with painstaking success when something landed on the roof beside me. My gasp dislodged the hammer I had in my mouth; it skidded to the edge.

"It's just me," Spike said. His footsteps were surprisingly light as he retrieved the tool. "I thought you could use a hand. And a light." A lantern flame waved through the air. Perplexed I squinted at it for some time before realizing that Spike held it aloft using his tail.

"Wow, Spike. You're as sweet in this world as you are in mine. Thank you! And…" I added, "you're all grown-up!"

Spike smiled and stared at his feet. I wondered if I would have seen him blushing had there been light enough. "What do I do first?" he asked.

After I instructed Spike on the pattern for laying shingles, we fell into an easy rhythm of work and began to converse. I told him about Tambelon and the mysterious mirrors that brought us here. Then I recounted all I knew of Ponyland, finding it rather eerie how the story of my home and the creatures who had been my friends and neighbors sounded just like another story, something only debatably real.

"I like the place you talked about," Spike said later as we sat on the rooftop and admired our finished work. "I bet if Tirek hadn't ushered in the Night, Dream Valley would be like that."

For a time we fell silent, and I watched the fast-moving clouds. They reminded me of ocean breakers sweeping past on a stormy day, perhaps during a terrible hurricane when the sky turned sickly green.

A thump on the roof interrupted my thoughts.

"Oh, hi Scorpan," Spike said.

Scorpan gazed from one end of the roof to the other as though he were inspecting our work.

"And just what are you doing?" I said.

"The roof looks sturdy enough," the gargoyle-like creature said. "I will sleep here tonight."

"Isn't that dangerous? What about the dark rain?" I asked.

"Tirek worked his power on me well before the first dark rain ever fell. If I were caught in it, I would just get wet." Scorpan sat between Spike and I, though somewhat above us. "I used to be a prince," Scorpan said wistfully.

"Isn't that what the frog told the princess so he could get a kiss?" I said without thinking.

Scorpan glared at me with his beady eyes.

"Can I sleep out here with you, too, Scorpan?" Spike sounded like an adoring little brother.

"No Spike. We cannot risk your undergoing the change."

Spike sighed. "I guess you're right. We're a team. We all have to stay strong to defeat Tirek."

"Yes," Scorpan said, but his voice was distant. "This coming battle with Tirek will permit no weakness."

I suppose Chichi – and Spike, of course - would consider Scorpan part of our team. But at that moment, I felt especially distant from him. Perhaps it was a touch of intuition from the Tambelon pendant, but it seemed to me that Scorpan bore a heavy burden all his own.

After repairing the roof, I soon become restless again. To keep my mind occupied, indeed to keep moving – how quickly I had begun to understand Scorpan's boorish ways, his trapped feeling - I suggested that we help the Moochick and Chichi by mopping up the dark waters from the library floor. However, the dark rain had stained the wood with a slippery black residue. Shady, Bowtie, Firefly, and I tried several home remedies on it before Scorpan told us it was futile. "Don't waste your energy," he said. "The Moochick will want to replace those planks or cover them with a rug."

"How are you such an authority on home repairs?" I demanded, not a little testily. The stain had been my puzzle for the afternoon.

Scorpan bared his teeth. "Tirek's castle stands at the center of the perpetual hurricane that generates the dark rain. Every inch of outside stones is darkened with that taint, and even the rapids of the castle moat cannot remove it."

After Scorpan's condemnation of our efforts, Shady, Bowtie, Firefly, and I conceded defeat and returned to the living room to lay before the fire once again. I wondered what the Dayblade looked like and what adventures had befallen my friends in getting it.

"Galaxy and I have spoken through telepathy," Chichi told us what seemed ages later. "They are ready to return. If you wish to greet them, come to the library."


	9. Scorpan Battles his Dark Side

Chapter Nine: Scorpan Battles his Dark Side

New energy filled the room as we ponies headed for the library. Spike followed, adding his own voice to the lively chatter.

Scorpan, unsurprisingly, hung back and scowled. I found myself at the back of our group, walking at his side. Although his face was never pleasant or cheerful to begin with, a separate and distinct darkness had come over it. Uneasily, I wondered what was wrong. I had no chance to ask, however. Chichi and the Moochick had raised their staffs over the traveler's crystal. The ponies and Spike stood a fair distance away, whether to make room for the Dayblade and the unicorns, or to keep out of the magic's way, I had been too absorbed in concern for Scorpan to decide.

Again the sunrise colors emanated from the crystal, this time shining against the dust motes in the library air and the nearby books. It spread to the wizards' wands, where it increased its intensity. Then three lights, green, fuchsia, and pale pink, materialized on three sides of Chichi's circular table.

"You're back!" Firefly called, rising on her hind legs in joy.

"And you have the sword," Shady said.

Sure enough, a sheathed blade hung over Twilight's neck and shoulder.

"It is more magnificent than the texts ever described it," Chichi whispered.

At first, I didn't understand her reason for saying so. The scabbard's only decoration was a simple carving of a sunrise. Even when the sword was laid bare, it was utterly unadorned.

"These runes on the hilt mean 'Dayblade' in the forgers' language," the Moochick pointed out.

"Who were the forgers?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know off the top of my head," the Moochick said. "But I could look it up." As he started for a leaning stack of papers, Chichi caught him by the trailing edge of his hat.

"Scorpan, will you come forward?" Chichi said.

We ponies parted so the beast-like creature could pass. Spike followed close on his heels but stopped halfway.

Scorpan gazed into the bright clarity of the Dayblade, shuddered, and turned away. "I cannot wield this weapon as I am," he said.

"There is no one else to aid us in this time of crisis. It must be you, Scorpan," Chichi said. "Nonetheless, you are right. A creature reborn in the dark rain cannot touch the Dayblade, let alone wield it."

I remembered what Scorpan had told me on the roof and my subsequent comment. The biting nature of it brought a blush to my cheeks. Although Scorpan made me feel unbalanced and more than a little afraid, that was no reason to treat him with unkindness, even if it were unintended.

"I don't get it," Fizzy said. Everyone seemed to share her confusion except Chichi. (However, on reflection, I have considered that the Moochick's apparent befuddlement may just have been his usual expression.)

"The time has come," Chichi beckoned to Firefly, "for the Rainbow of Light."

Firefly came before Scorpan. Many questions passed between their eyes before they turned to the Moochick and his sister.

"Oh, I forgot." Chichi knelt before Firefly. "As a creature reborn to the darkness, Scorpan cannot open the locket for you. And it will be difficult for you little ponies, lacking hands as you do. And yet," the green-clad wizardess mused before she took hold of the red heart suspended from its leather thong, "it seems there should be another to free the rainbow."

I thought of Megan and all the times she had released the Rainbow of Light in order to save Ponyland. Perhaps it was she of whom Chichi thought. And I wondered if somewhere, beyond the bounds of the Night that Never Ends, a girl gazed at the horizon feeling a call she did not fully understand, that friends she had never met were somehow in trouble.

"The Rainbow of Light!" Shady's exclamation brought me back to a moment undoubtedly more important than my musings.

The Rainbow of Light it was, but –

"It's so small," Bowtie said.

I swallowed hard against the sudden fluttering of my heart. Bowtie was right. Compared to the rainbow I remembered, a mighty arc of vibrant colors, this was a mere sliver, a fragile bit of color that might be snuffed like a fading candle.

"Yes." The Moochick clucked his tongue. "A shame, really. But that's to be expected. Deprived of light for so long, the Rainbow of Light has become dim."

"We only hope it has enough power left to help Scorpan," Chichi murmured.

Scorpan watched the minute bit of rainbow as though it were an angry hornet. "What must I do?" he said.

"It won't hurt, will it?" Spike burst out, interrupting the gravity of the moment. Affection for the dragon – no longer little – welled up in my heart.

"Even if it does, I cannot back down, Spike. This Night must give way to the morning," Scorpan said.

Admiration surged through me at his bravery.

"Stand still and let the rainbow come to you," Chichi said. "Your heart will decide the rest."

Firefly and the sibling wizards stepped away from Scorpan. He waited, his palms turned to the rainbow. His chest rose and fell, faster and faster, as though he fled an invisible foe. Sweat darkened the hair on his head and under his arms. Meanwhile, the rainbow drifted like a leaf atop the water, its path meandering. When it was level with Scorpan's heart, it stopped. Scorpan's groan as it faded, held as much pain as though he had been run through. (Or so I imagined from my extensive reading.)

"Wait," the Moochick called out, oddly authoritative, as Spike moved toward Scorpan. "Wait until the rainbow has done its work, no matter what you see."

Uneasily Spike and I hung back.

As it turned out, the Moochick was right. Small of flickers of light began to dance across Scorpan's body. Suddenly, light and color exploded from his body; I thought of a firecracker, or an exploding stained glass window, the brilliant sunfire behind it flooding through. When the last glimmers faded, a young man stood before us in tattered princely array. Although I was certain I had never seen him before, he still seemed vaguely familiar.

Then in the darkness beyond our circle, a shape moved. As it strode toward the young man, I recognized Scorpan. "Scorpan!" Spike called out in obvious relief that his friend was unhurt. But Scorpan did not so much as look at Spike. He came before the prince and struck. The young man stumbled back, his pale hand pressed to his bleeding cheek. Apparently Scorpan had clawed him as well.

"Scorpan, stop!" Spike called out. "Don't hurt this guy; he can wield the Dayblade for us!"

"That is not Scorpan," the Moochick said. "The prince is. The Rainbow of Light wasn't powerful enough to restore his human form fully, so he must battle his own inner darkness. That is the shadow form of Scorpan that the rainbow has brought out."

"We have to help the prince!" Firefly said.

"No. We cannot interfere." As Chichi said so, Scorpan kicked the prince's feet out from under him.

"We can't let him lose," Firefly whispered, her eyes widening at Scorpan's superior strength.

Scorpan raised his foot to kick the prince's head. At the last possible second, the young man rolled away. It was an ill-planned escape, however. His body struck a table piled high with books, which tumbled around him. The prince struggled to his knees. He must have been dizzy from the blow, for he paused midway through and sank back to the ground, shaking his head.

"Oh, I can't look!" Shady whimpered.

"Can't we toss him the Dayblade?" I demanded. "He's helpless!"

Chichi shook her head, her lips shut tight from tension. My mind reeled. Had the spell gone wrong? What had the Rainbow of Light done?

Scorpan, meanwhile, seized the very table his light counterpart had crashed into and raised it over his head. The prince saw his assailant coming with his new weapon and gasped. Sudden rage twisted his face, and he began flinging books at Scorpan. The gargoyle-like creature used the table to shield himself from the barrage.

"Oh dear, oh dear!" The Moochick's head whipped back and forth from Scorpan to the prince. "I'm going to have to remodel this entire library when this is over! Oh, do be careful with that," he called as the prince added an enormous tome atop a podium to his ammunition. "That's a first edition spell book from Locknear!"

The first edition spell book from Locknear was large enough for the Moochick to use as a bed, and it probably weighed three times as much as he did. Nonetheless, the prince managed to lug it to Scorpan and smash it down on his bestial foot.

Scorpan and the prince screamed as one. Scorpan let the table fall from its position above his head – he had been poised to throw it - in sheer surprise. It struck his head en route to the floor. A shocked gasp rose among the ponies and Spike as the prince clutched his booted foot and rocked his head between his arms. He and Scorpan recovered at the same time and renewed their battle. I was surprised the air between them didn't ignite. Scorpan stalked toward the prince, every hair standing on end from rage. The prince, however, simply stood there, his arms outstretched. "Come to me, my other self," the prince rasped. "I cannot defeat you, but I can receive you."

"What is he doing?" Firefly

"I think I understand," Galaxy said. "Scorpan, that is, the prince, can't fight against his dark side because it is a part of him."

"Good lad," Chichi murmured. "That's it…"

Scorpan paused just before he crossed into the prince's striking range, perhaps suspecting some trick attended his enemy's apparent surrender. The prince remained perfectly still. Scorpan opened his arms, too.

"He'll crush him!" Bowtie shouted. "Somebody do something!"

In the end, it was the prince who did something: he stepped forward into Scorpan's death embrace. The instant they came together, Scorpan vanished like smoke in the wind. The prince sagged to his knees. An instant later, it seemed, Spike was at his side.

"Congratulations, Prince. You have defeated him," Chichi said. At her side, the Moochick wiped his forehead with a green handkerchief. That and Chichi's trembling voice made me wonder how much they had believed in him. Slow, simmering anger ran through me at the risk she and the Moochick had taken.

"Then the other Scorpan wasn't real?" Fizzy was saying.

"No, no, no, no!" the Moochick said. "That was the test of the Dayblade, to see if Scorpan, er, his highness, was worthy to wield it."

"What do you mean?" Fizzy said.

"I think I understand," Galaxy said. "The dark rain and the power of the Rainbow of Darkness changes beings into an alternate, evil form. That alternate, evil form is the Scorpan we saw."

"Isn't Scorpan your real name?" Fizzy asked the prince.

The young man laughed. "No. 'Scorpan' is the new name Tirek gave me. Oddly, I prefer it to Prince Alexander Christophe Phillipe Tarquinn XXXIII." He held out his hands at arm's length and turned them over and over, marveling at the sight.

"That's a mouthful," I said. Heart Throb, I reflected, would have swooned at his titles.

The prince gave me a chilling glare, and I knew in that moment that I would always think of him as Scorpan.

Suddenly the prince's eyes bulged, and he fell to his knees, gasping and moaning, grabbing at his stomach as though his entrails were in danger of spilling out. But the Scorpan who had appeared to grapple with him had not succeeded in touching Prince Alex, Scorpan, however one called him.

"What's wrong?" I cried out. As I drew close to his side to offer what limited help I could, the prince threw up his arm as though to fend me off.

"No! Get away from me!"

Startled, I stepped backwards, though not before I sensed how frigid the air around him had become. Why, it was as cold as though the sun had forgotten it since time began!

The prince toppled to the floor, where he writhed in violent convulsions. Seemingly of its own will, or perhaps that of an unseen cruel puppeteer, Scorpan's body arced and twisted, raised itself up, then flung itself back to the floor. Several ponies, including myself, cried out against his desperate wailing moan, a sound like none I had ever heard, even in my bleakest hours in Tambelon, or in my darkest dreams.

When it was over, Scorpan stood before us, having shed all vestiges of the human prince.

"What happened?" Firefly demanded. "I thought he passed the Dayblade's test! I thought the Rainbow of Light made him human!"

"He was always human," Twilight reminded her. "The Rainbow of Light simply threw off his false form."

"I'm sorry, Prince," Chichi said. "The Rainbow of Light is failing. Its powers are so weak that it could only make you human for a brief time. The only hope of restoring the Rainbow of Light's power now is to reunite it with the Rainbow of Darkness, which might well obliterate the last of the Rainbow of Light. To think I did not foresee something so important…" As though the darkness were a weight settling upon her, Chichi stooped. I heard age and weariness in her voice that I had never noticed before. "I'm sorry, Prince," Chichi said.

"Please…call me 'Scorpan,'" said the young man trapped again in this bestial shape. His face was an impassive mask with two fires staring from the eyeholes; his fists clenched so tightly that his arms shook.

"Does this mean that Tirek has won?" Firefly said. I had to admire the unflinching bravery with which she asked the question.

"Wait a minute," the Moochick said. "Scorpan, take up the Dayblade."

"How can I?" Scorpan's voice was dangerously quiet. "In this dark form…"

The rest of us looked to the Moochick, asking the same question with minds, eyes, or voice.

"How can he, Moochie?" Chichi said. "The Rainbow of Light…"

"Sometimes hope seems past recall, yet little pieces of rainbow still abound," the Moochick said in a strange voice. I wondered if it was a snatch of song that he quoted. "You have nothing to lose, Scorpan. If the blade is against you, it will only burn you, and you can cast it from you. It is a small price to pay…"

"Very well." Scorpan motioned for everyone to stand back. Then he knelt beside the Dayblade, hesitated a moment. Then, with gritted teeth, he closed his clawed hand around the hilt.

A strange ringing, like the notes of a glass harmonica filled the air.

"Oh Moochie!" Chichi breathed.

"The Dayblade is still yours to wield, Scorpan," the Moochick said.

"But how?" Scorpan lowered the sword and brushed at his eyes with the back of his free hand.

"I had a feeling," the Moochick said. "But it was not entirely uninformed. The Dayblade accepted you after the Rainbow of Light transformed you. It is as this wise little pony has said." The old wizard motioned to Twilight. "Whether your aspect is dark or light, whether your name is Scorpan or Prince Alexander… What's more, you accepted your dark self, and in so doing, vanquished it. This is the test the Dayblade gives all who would wield it By retaining your own will in this false shape, you are different from all the other creatures affected by the dark rain."  
"He's right!" Galaxy exclaimed. "The others' personalities seem to be sealed away somewhere while some malevolent instinct governs their actions. That is why Gusty and Sweet Stuff flew off, rather than stay with us!"

Before we could press Galaxy to explain what she meant, Scorpan interrupted. "Moochick. Mochichi. Ponies. I am in your debt." Despite the Moochick's tremendous compliment and our new hope, Scorpan spoke with bitterness. "Let me assure you, I shall repay what I owe you." With that, he started for the door. "Come, Spike. The time has come at last for our long-awaited battle.

"Scorpan, wait!" Chichi said. "You can't go yet, not without a plan!"

"I have all the plan I need." Scorpan raised the Dayblade. "This is the one weapon in all this land that can defeat Tirek. For months I have trained in the Mushromp. I am ready." So saying, he mounted Spike.

"Spike, wait!" I called. "Don't let him do this! It's too rash and dangerous!"

"I'm sorry, Paradise," Spike said. "But I know Scorpan. If I don't go with him, he will still go. He can fly, you know. Scorpan's my friend, and I won't let him face Tirek alone. I've wanted to be at his side for this battle; it's been years now."

"Spike, we've wasted enough time," Scorpan said.

"That idiot!" Chichi fumed as they flew away. "After all we through to get him the Dayblade, he's just going to throw his life away?" The knot in my stomach tightened as I realized how frazzled the normally-confident wizardess was.

Firefly gazed dolefully at her singed wing. "If I could still fly, I would have gone with them."

"I can go!" So saying, I wished I sounded as brave as Firefly had. Yet, I did not know what I could do for Scorpan, let alone Ponyland, even if I managed to catch up with him.

"No, Paradise," Galaxy said. "That would be pointless."

"Yes," the Moochick agreed. "Scorpan hates to be beholden to anyone. This is how he is going to repay his debt. I doubt you could persuade him to turn around. Though I don't expect he will get far. Oh dear, dear. "Why, the guards alone will surely overpower him," the Moochick sputtered.

"The guards!" Chichi shouted, startling us all. That's it, Moochie! That's it!"

"It is? How do you mean?"

"The unicorns and I will join our magic to seal Tirek's guards and servants. This way, Scorpan's only battle will be with Tirek himself."

"What are the rest of us supposed to do?" Shady said.

"I don't know about you," Firefly said, "but I'm going to Midnight Castle. If you think this is unwise, Chichi, it would be best to give the Rainbow Locket to another pony. There's no telling whether Scorpan will need help. If he does, I want to be there to do what I can. No matter what, I'm not going to miss this battle!" In the brief silence that followed, Firefly coughed and traced a circle on the floor with her hoof. "I had expected more of you to disagree with me," she said sheepishly.

"I think you're right, Firefly," Bowtie said. "We are the last ones able to fight against Tirek's reign. It…means something significant that we all gather there...for the battle at Midnight Castle."

"It seems we are following Scorpan's strategy after all, even as we try to mitigate the foolish way he has rushed to Midnight Castle without a plan," Galaxy said. "Not that he has given us much choice in the matter."

The others agreed grimly.

"I will also help you seal away Tirek's guards," the Moochick said. "I have many magical items that can amplify our power. I'm certain Mochichi does as well. Won't you lend them to our cause?"

"Yes," Chichi said. "Now is the time to hold nothing back."

"I understand that this is a lot to ask of you ponies who came from outside this land," Firefly said. "If you do not wish to come with Bowtie and me to Midnight Castle, I fully understand."

"It is still our fight," Shady said to my great surprise. "Our friends Sweet Stuff and Gusty were claimed by the Dark Rain. If we ever hope to restore them, we must fight! I will go." She looked to me. "What will you do, Paradise?" Her words were brave, noble, despite the slight quaver in her voice. Dear Shady. How our journey through dark places had made her grow. I remembered how she and Gusty used to argue and wondered if there were any truth in the saying that best friends argued the most. But the others were waiting for my answer.

"I will go," I said.

Firefly and Bowtie drew near to Shady and me, their eyes aglow, their tails dancing as though we went to a magnificent party, rather than venturing to the seat of Tirek's dark power.

"How do we get to Midnight Castle?" Shady said.

"That part's easy at least," Firefly said. "All travelers in this realm find themselves at Midnight Castle eventually. If we go far enough in any direction, it will be there. It's like the center of a whirlpool," she added with a shiver.

Sudden dread weighed heavy in my stomach. "What if it's too late for us to help Scorpan?" I said.

"With the Dayblade, Scorpan's might will match Tirek's," the Moochick said. "Their battle will be long and bitter. I only regret that I can tell you nothing more that can help. From here, the outcome is left to Scorpan and anything you can do to help him."


	10. Battle at Midnight Castle

Chapter Ten: Battle at Midnight Castle

The details of our journey to Midnight Castle are mercifully blurred in my mind. Even as we sought that foul bastion, I remained unaware of the lands we passed through. It suffices to say that a menace far surpassing that of Tambelon pressed on me from all sides as though I were submerged in deep water.

Before we set out, Chichi gave us globular lanterns made of red paper. Had dawn been a certainty, the sight of these gently glowing lights in these small suns would have made for a cozy evening. The bleak reality of our situation heightened my sense of how fragile our guiding lights were, how, like our very lives, the Night could engulf them in black oblivion, never to be found again.

At last we arrived at the place that would decide our destinies. Firefly slowed and peered over the top of a dark boulder. "There it is," she whispered. "Midnight Castle."

I joined her, resting my front legs on that grave-cold rock. For many minutes, I could not make sense of the shape before me. In color, Midnight Castle was darkness given form, but a malleable shape, wily and ever-changing. One moment, I thought I saw the shadow of a great tree. But then I blinked, and the tree became a jagged stalagmite, then a completely nonsensical structure crowned with cruel spires. Perhaps this was to be expected. I wondered if creatures of the dark had such trouble making sense of things wrought by we light dwellers.

The wind had grown stronger the closer we drew to Midnight Castle. At the base, the gusts buffeted us with such strength that I marveled that the castle itself did not fall, for surely the wind became stronger higher up. Down these wind currents, ripe and moist with the lurking storm's unspent fury, a dark message came to me.

"Paradise, help me!"

That unmistakable voice raised a shudder through my entire body. "Sweet Stuff! Where are you?" I yelled against the very wind that had brought me her plea, though I had no real hope that she would hear and answer. I tossed my head, squinted through my thick hair, which the wind pushed against my eyes. The sky was vacant, however, and there were no other ponies within shouting distance, save the three with whom I had come to Midnight Castle. There were many rock faces from which Sweet Stuff's voice might have resounded, too many for me to discern from the ground. Were I to fly, however… Suddenly I found myself in the air, struggling to right myself. Not far below me, Firefly braced against the stony ground, my tail clenched between her teeth.

"What are you doing, Paradise?" Bowtie said.

"I heard Sweet Stuff calling for help." But they could not hear me over the howling gale, so I was forced to land and repeat myself, nearly shouting to be heard.

"I didn't hear anything!" Firefly said. Bowtie glanced from Firefly to me in alarm, then darted toward the flowing rapids.

"Bowtie! Wait!" Firefly called.

The blue pony did not return; she must have been out of earshot.

"Wait," Firefly breathed. "Wait. She'll come back."

In short time, my concern for Bowtie became another: Shady was also missing.

"Look!" Firefly said.

A light orb, backed by two nearly-invisible pony figures, started back for us. When Shady and Bowtie were close enough to hear, they reported a story similar to mine. Shady had wandered toward Midnight Castle in search of a phantom voice. Unlike me, however, she had heard Gusty.

"We cannot trust this wind," Firefly said after I related once more how I had heard Sweet Stuff. "I think it works together with the moat to keep intruders out."

I had to admit she was right, especially remembering how little control I had over my flight once I had started looking for Sweet Stuff.

"You both seemed hypnotized," Bowtie added.

"Does anyone else see those flashes at the top of the castle?" Shady said. "What could those be?"

I looked beyond concentric clouds to what must have been the pinnacle of towers, or a walkway shared between them, where, intermittent flashes, made tiny from our vantage point, flickered. "I do. But what are they?"

"Perhaps from Scorpan and Tirek's fight," Bowtie said.

"How will we reach the top?" Firefly said. "Paradise is the only one who can fly. And we'll never get across the moat, between the current and the rocks."

"Allow me," a disembodied, strangely familiar voice said.

The four of us looked around, seeing no one. "What was that?" Shady said.

"It is I, the Moochick. I am diverting my magic from the barrier to speak to you through Chichi's scry ball. Casting our spell with the unicorns, my sister and I realized that Midnight Castle has grown during the Night that Never Ends. Chichi thinks that if it continues to expand, it will soon engulf the Mushromp and all of Dream Valley!"

"What can we do?" Shady shouted.

"Let me help you to the roof," the Moochick said. Green-gold light, the hue of a forest canopy in the afternoon, jumped from the paper lanterns Chichi had given us and formed a staircase of similar color in the Night. Inspecting the first stairs from overhead, I found that they were slightly transparent. Then I gazed up, higher and higher until the path he had laid for us vanished in the dark. I could only hope that it would, in fact, lead to the roof.

"Please hurry," the Moochick urged. "I haven't much power remaining. Midnight Castle has become too vast to navigate in weeks, let alone the brief time you have."

Bowtie and Firefly went rigid with fear and indecision. "What if it's a trick?" Bowtie said.

The Moochick gave no answer. The path he had laid for us remained inscrutable.

"He's right. It's our only chance!" Shady leaped onto the faintly green and gold stair from the side; Bowtie and Firefly had obstructed the front way. The stair held firm. Her golden mane and tail whipped around her like a banner in a hurricane.

I thought for a minute, then joined Shady on the stairs. "Come on!" I called, raising one hoof to beckon to Firefly and Bowtie. "The voices Shady and I heard never answered back."

"There is no other way," Firefly said at last, coming behind us. Bowtie followed shortly after, and we began our trek upwards.

The Moochick's stair proved longer than I had ever thought possible. As formidable as Tirek's stronghold appeared from the ground, the intimidating sight amounted to little compared to galloping somewhat above it from the roots to the pinnacle. I realized before long that Midnight Castle was less of a castle and more of a mountain. And if the Moochick was right, given enough time, this dreadful place would expand into a mountain chain, the fetters of which would bind all Ponyland.

Despite their resemblance to delicate colored glass, for now, the stairs were as solid as stone. However, there was no knowing how long they would keep their solidarity. Our hooves rang out on them as though they were marble. This sound was enhanced by an invisible shield the Moochick had raised around the stairs to keep the wind from knocking us over the edge. It was rather like running through a tunnel while the storm, darkness lost in darkness, wailed its wrath around us. On and on we ran. I began to wonder if the summit of this evil mountain were attainable.

Suddenly Shady's flanks ahead of me descended. Alarm jolted through my already-frayed nerves before I understood that we had reached the top of Midnight Castle. The stairs, I soon discovered, ended on the bulwarks. Shady had merely jumped from bulwarks to the roof. I followed, then turned with her to encourage Firefly and Bowtie. Not a moment too soon, they were at our side on the roof. Dizziness surged through me as the stairs flickered and faded. What might be the last words I ever spoke to my companions flickered to my mind. Before I could utter them, I sighted Spike's body, run through upon a wickedly-serrated blade of night-dark steel.

"Pathetic!" Tirek shouted from above. Scorpan and Tirek's clash brought them so near to us that I heard the whistle as their blades cut the air.

"Is this all the power the Dayblade can muster? Or is the wielder lacking?" Tirek mocked Scorpan.

I shuddered, remembering a similar, though indescribable, quality that had filled Grogar's voice.

Scorpan had no retort for Tirek's insult; he needed all his strength to fly after his enemy's chariot, pulled by four swift dragons. Snarling, cursing, straining like two blood-hungry beasts, Scorpan and Tirek never noticed as they passed right by us. In Scorpan's hands, the Dayblade shone with pale, spectral light, when before, the metal had been as that of any other sword.

"That monster!" Firefly seethed. At first I did not understand her anger as she glared with gritted teeth from Spike to Tirek. Then I recognized the sword with which the centaur fought as the twin to the one that had felled Spike.

"Look at the Rainbow of Light," Shady said.

Tiny rays of prismatic light shone around the locket's periphery, at least as strong as the wavering illumination of the Dayblade.

"It must be reacting to the Rainbow of Darkness," Firefly said in wonder.

"I will fly at the edge of their battle - I don't think they have noticed us yet – and get the Rainbow of Darkness from Tirek," I said.

"But didn't Chichi say the Rainbow of Darkness might be powerful enough to obliterate the Rainbow of Light?" Bowtie said.

"It is our only way to help Scorpan," I pointed out.

"She also said bringing the two rainbows together was the only hope of restoring the Rainbow of Light's power," Shady said. "And there's no other way we can help Scorpan. They're battling in the sky!"

At a roar from Scorpan, all heads turned to the fight. Tirek drew back his blood-stained blade with a menacing grin. Scorpan pressed his free hand against his shoulder but could not stop the red from running through his fingers.

"Shady and Paradise are right," Firefly said.

"I understand," Bowtie said. "It may be risky, but all that's left to us is hope."

Although every nerve in my body screamed for me to rush to Scorpan's aid, I did not fly directly into the fray. Instead I hid behind a tower and waited for them to pass close to me. As a formidable foe for Scorpan, Tirek would certainly be impossible for me to contend with. And if I should perish, our chances of seizing the Rainbow of Darkness would be lost.

To my alarm, Scorpan could barely parry the centaur's blows. Before long, the once-prince's back was pressed against the very wall I had hidden behind. The eyes of Tirek's dragons reddened with bloodlust. Their growls hummed through the air, a vibration like thunder. The Dayblade's light wavered.

I could spare no more time! I dived toward Tirek and seized the leather thong that kept the Rainbow of Darkness around his neck. I had thought to pull it over his head, but I had underestimated the width of his horns.

"Gurragh!" Tirek slashed overheard.

I only dodged by letting myself fall. The thong held fast against my entire body weight and the grip of my teeth; the strain on my neck and jaws was incredible.

"You!" Scorpan said with grim incredulity when he saw me.

Light flared in my eyes, and suddenly I was tumbling away from Tirek and Scorpan, the Rainbow of Darkness dangling from my mouth by its severed thong.

The pouch was so light, one might have thought it contained nothing. I wanted to shout encouragement to Scorpan, but I did not dare drop the rainbow that had darkened Ponyland.

"Come back here!" Tirek shouted.

Behind me, a radiance arose, all the sunrises this Ponyland had forgotten remembered in a single instant. I turned back, and through the brilliance, I saw Scorpan's Dayblade clash with Tirek's, obstructing the centaur from pursuing. I imagined Scorpan saying something like, "Your battle is with me, Tirek."

By the time I reached my friends on the ground, Tirek was roaring for the guards Chichi and the unicorns had sealed. I hoped their spell remained intact.

"Paradise!" Firefly whispered in admiration. "How I wish I might have helped you wrestle the rainbow from him."

"Never mind," I said, depositing the Rainbow of Darkness between us. "Come, let me open the locket." With some difficulty – how I wished Megan, the Moochick, anyone with hands might have come with us – I pried the heart halves apart. The sliver of rainbow emerged and perched by Firefly's shoulder as though waiting for something.

"It's not doing anything," Bowtie said.

"Maybe it won't work unless the Rainbow of Darkness is free, too," Firefly suggested.

"Then I'll free it," Shady said.

"Shady, it's dangerous," I said. My protest sounded weak and defeated after her tenacious resolve.

"I know, Paradise, but for Gusty and Sweet Stuff's sakes, I have to try." Shady began wrestling with the drawstrings. Raw-nerved, I alternated between glancing skyward, then at Shady. There was no sign of the Dayblade's light, which I took to mean the battle had moved farther off.

In this I was mistaken. Too late, Firefly and I sighted Tirek's chariot zooming ground-ward, Scorpan draped over Tirek's shoulder.

"Shady, look out!" I screamed.

But Tirek was not aiming for her or his rainbow. Instead he brought dragons and chariot crashing to the rooftop. The force of the dragons' landing knocked Shady and the Rainbow of Darkness to the opposite side of the roof from Firefly, Bowtie, and me. The Rainbow of Light followed us, hovering uselessly while we tried to regain our feet.

"Feeble little pony!" Tirek reached toward Shady as though he beckoned to her. "Join the forces of darkness!" Then he raised his sword skyward. I thought of a conductor commanding a select few instruments to play.

Firefly, Bowtie, and I gasped as the clouds unleashed their dark rain. At the same instant, Shady freed the Rainbow of Darkness. Her triumph drowned in the storm of dark rain conjured exclusively for her. Tirek's grimace twisted his face like a gnarled tree trunk wrapped in its own roots.

At the rain's first touch, Shady's back arched, and a scream rose from her throat, first in the voice I knew, then the wild screech of a dragon.

Shady. It's Shady, I tried to think as the beast tossed its head and gouged chunks of stone loose with its claws. I couldn't help it, however; the primal fear overcame me, and I cowered at what my friend had become.

Around the dragon swirled a sinuous, snake-like shadow that could only be the Rainbow of Darkness. The Rainbow of Light glided toward it as though hypnotized.

"Behold the power of darkness!" Tirek shouted triumphantly. As though these words were a command, the Rainbow of Darkness passed over that of light, obliterating it as though it had never been.

"Our rainbow! It's gone!" Firefly shouted.

"We're finished!" Bowtie moaned.

The Rainbow of Darkness arced over us. I huddled in a helpless ball with Firefly and Bowtie at its feet. Then a glimmer of prismatic light caught my eye. "No, look!" I shouted in realization. "Our rainbow is fighting back!"

"It can't be!" Tirek said.

The sight of the rainbow gave Firefly, Bowtie, and me the courage to stand.

Shady's sacrifice would not be pointless! Even as I made the vow, Tirek turned to the dragon Shady had become. "Destroy them!" he commanded her. Dimly I was aware that our rainbow's colors had transformed nearly half of its dark counterpart. With a deafening roar, the dragon threw its head back.

"What are you waiting for? Kill them!" Tirek commanded. But even then, the beast would not budge.

"Shady," I whispered, the tears stinging my eyes.

"Fine then. You shall have your companions!" The centaur flung Scorpan to the ground and spread his arms full-length. An ominous prelude of drops pattered across the roof, and I knew the storm was coming for us. "Change!" Tirek said in a voice resounding and terrible.

Bowtie, Firefly, and I gazed skyward, unable to avert our eyes from our imminent defeat. Above us, the Rainbow of Light completed its merge with that of the dark just before the first of the deluge fell. To my amazement, the drops never reached us, but slid past as though a window stood between us.

Firefly realized what was happening first. "The rainbow – it's protecting us!" she said in amazement.

I dared to look away and discovered, sure enough, that the ground was completely dry. Above, our rainbow had expanded into a dome. Shady and the dragons that had pulled the Chariot of Midnight hid their faces from its light at the far side of the roof.

Tirek let out a guttural growl. Behind him, a light winked into being. I drew as near to the rainbow dome's edge as I dared, trying to determine what it was. It was nearly on top of Tirek before I understood. "Scorpan!" I breathed a sign of relief. He was alright!

Looking back, I often reflect on the irony that Scorpan's rally against Tirek was foiled by the Dayblade. If not for the sword's shine alerting Tirek to Scorpan's charge, he might have continued his efforts against the Rainbow of Light until it was too late. As matters transpired, Tirek threw one arm over his face against the light that blazed white in the unchallenged Night. With his other hand, he thrust at Scorpan; electricity arced from the centaur's palm. However, it was a blind strike, and Scorpan easily dodged the blue lightning. Yet Tirek's counter-attack succeeded in delaying Scorpan's rush and prevented the Dayblade from striking home; it only grazed the centaur's arm.

Scorpan turned back to his enemy and raised the Dayblade before him. "By this blade, I swear this land shall see another dawn!" Scorpan roared.

"You utter vain hopes, you fool!" From his grounded chariot, Tirek took up his serrated blade. "The Night will devour you and your resistance! Day and light itself shall be forgotten!"

Now that Scorpan did not have to fly after Tirek in his four-dragon chariot, the two fighters were nearly equal in strength and agility. Sparks leaped from their swords as they clashed, light and dark ringing, circling, closing in, then falling back.

During their battle, the rain ceased, I assumed because Tirek was occupied with Scorpan. I flew near the fight to see if I might help Scorpan somehow.

Many times the fighters brought their swords clashing together in contests of raw strength. At one point, it seemed Scorpan had finally gained the upper hand by flinging Tirek backwards. The centaur dropped to his knees and let his sword fall. As Scorpan abandoned caution for a full-on charge, Tirek spread his arms wide with a scream that ripped across the roof like storm surge.

I had been flying overhead. After Tirek's scream, an invisible force jerked me to the ground. Scorpan, likewise, fell. Before I hit the stone and lost my breath, I glimpsed my friends watching in horror from behind the protection of the rainbow dome. Unable to move, I lay helpless on the ground and watched as Tirek rose with a chuckle.

"Well, Scorpan," the centaur said as he approached his immobilized opponent, "You grovel to me again." His kick sent Scorpan rolling toward one of the bulwarks that lined the roof.

My gasp was heavy in my throat, I felt I was suffocating. A clank alerted me that Tirek had kicked something else. It skittered to a stop just at the periphery of my vision. My entire body turned cold at the sight: the Dayblade. A white aura flickered briefly around it, then died.

"No matter where you run, no matter who your allies are, you will always be my servant," Tirek said. "I will teach you, Scorpan, so you never forget your place again."

I imagined Scorpan's features, proud though bestial, contorting in pain. Rage gave me strength to raise myself with agonizing slowness, first my right front leg, followed by left, then my hindquarters. I stumbled a few steps, as awkward as a new fawn of spring and, with a tiny hop of tremendous effort, I flew again.

I will never forget that flight. Despite being airborne, I still felt as though an immense stone hand were crushing me to the ground. I could barely fly straight, and each moment seemed to increase the danger of my losing altitude. Fortunately, in the end, that did not matter; Tirek was beating Scorpan with deliberate, slow pleasure. I came up behind the centaur marveling that he could not hear my heart thudding in my ears. When I was even with his head, I drew back my hind legs and kicked so hard my hoofs came away bloody.

Immediately after, the heaviness left my limbs. I found myself propelled higher as my body was suddenly released from the spell.

Tirek stumbled backwards, clutching his head; however, he did not remain stunned for long. Scorpan had just reached the Dayblade when Tirek took up his serrated blade again. The Dayblade flared to life, increasing its illumination as Scorpan drew nearer to Tirek. Dismay threatened to ground my flight as surely as Tirek's gravity spell had; Scorpan's wounds were far worse than I had thought. The blue lightning had seared his shoulder, charring the hair away and leaving a raw patch of mottled red and yellow. Dark shadows of bruises dappled his flesh. Because of these, he could move only stiffly. Tirek must have noticed, too, for he hacked wildly at Scorpan. Rage fouled his aim, however, that and the Dayblade which occasionally emitted a pulse of light, forcing Tirek to battle squinting.

Had Scorpan not been injured, this battle would have ended shortly, and in his victory. As it was, the fight was strangely slow, as though it had been staged that way for dramatic effect. Again and again, Tirek and Scorpan came together, struck, then stumbled apart, only to reunite their blades.

I longed to help Scorpan, yet I did not dare interfere again. I could not have him hurt because I had distracted him. Furthermore, I had no desire to be caught between their swords; the Dayblade would be just as sharp to me as Tirek's. As I hovered on the periphery, my strength ebbed with theirs.

But then, Tirek succeeded in landing a blow, sinking his blade so far into Scorpan's chest that it protruded from his shoulder blade. "Join your dragon," Tirek said with a cruel smirk.

"Scorpan!" I tried to shout, but my voice failed.

"Gladly." To my amazement, Scorpan was smiling, though pain twisted his face. "I will die with the dawn."

Tirek looked down at the inky vitality spilling from his own wound, rushing down the Dayblade. "No! No!" he said, hoarsely. "I am the lord of the Night that Never…" He toppled then and lay still.


	11. Honoring Our Heroes in the Dawn

Chapter Eleven: Honoring Our Heroes in the Dawn

Scorpan, meanwhile, pulled himself to a sitting position against the wall. "The light…how it shines!" he murmured as I landed beside him.

"Scorpan?" I whispered.

Hoofbeats rang out on the flagstones behind me, and then Bowtie and Firefly were at my side to hear what would be Scorpan's last words.

"So splendid, yet I can fill my eyes without pain," Scorpan whispered.

"Isn't there anything we can do?" I said.

Firefly and Bowtie shook their heads; whether they wept for Scorpan or all who had fallen in the Night – I never knew.

Scorpan's head lolled forward. "So…bright."

As though his words had been a prophecy, the Dayblade shattered like a mirror. The pieces burned out their last glory in white radiance. When their shine dimmed, Scorpan's body reverted to that of Prince Alexander Christophe Phillipe Tarquinn XXXIII, his face as serene as mine was surely anguished.

Unexpectedly, the scent of water filled the air, plinked on the stonework. We three ponies froze, rigidly awaiting the dreaded Change. Soon our manes were plastered to our faces. Gazing on the prince's stilled form, on the raindrops that strewed the roof like funeral petals, I made the realization. "It is ordinary rain," I said. My own tears joined the wetness on my cheeks. "The Night has ended."

From the tower emerged many ponies who greeted Firefly and Bowtie by name.

To my joy, Sweet Stuff, Gusty, and Shady emerged as well. Joy mingled with sorrow in my aching chest as I nuzzled them and licked their faces. Had I human arms as Megan or even Scorpan, I would have embraced them and never let go.

Together, we watched the sunrise from the top of Midnight Castle. I found it fitting, if bittersweet, that Prince Alexander – no, he would want me to call him Scorpan – that Scorpan had met his end at the east-facing wall. When the golden rays poured their bounty across the roof, the delicate notes of birds released from their tenure as Tirek's soldiers filled the air.

Soon the ponies' awe diminished into many separate conversations united with one theme: what were we to do next? I took flight and positioned myself to hover at the center of the roof. For an instant, the lands below, fragile and beautiful in the morning light, held my gaze. "Ponies," I called down to them, "please listen to me. Here on this roof are two who have fallen to bring us this morning. Let us pay our respects, for without them, we would still languish in shadows."

My words silenced all peripheral conversations as they beheld the sunlight with clearer sight.

"You seem to have an idea of how we might do that, Paradise," Firefly called. I lowered myself a foot or two; I had their attention now.

"Scorpan and Spike will be difficult to carry from this place. But now that the Night has ended, Midnight Castle is the site of their victory. I think they would be pleased if we laid them to rest here." Suddenly I could speak no more; my tears would not stop.

"I understand," Firefly said. "Let us place Spike at Scorpan's side. Such great friends deserve to be together in death."

With the efforts of many ponies, Spike was brought to Scorpan. We laid both facing east. Bowtie and Firefly spoke of their bravery and their sacrifice, how they wished Scorpan and Spike might have shared this morning with us.

Then Gusty came forth with two other white unicorns who I later learned were named Moon Dancer and Glory. Moon Dancer and Glory's horns showered blinding white sparks upon our departed heroes. Then Gusty summoned a brisk wind in which the flicker-flashes grew to pillars of flames.

Through my tears, it seemed a second sun burned on the roof of Midnight Castle. Perhaps, I reflected, in that radiant realm beyond mortal sight, Scorpan's last serene smile would replace his hungry watchful expression. Perhaps the wall he had always kept around his heart would finally fall.

I do not recall how long the fires burned. During the Night, I had ceased to consider even rough estimations of time. In addition, grief fragmented my memories. I have dim recollections of Firefly directing our escape efforts, of Gusty, Moon Dancer, and Glory communicating with the three unicorns at the Mushromp. I remember seemingly-interminable passages of Midnight Castle's interior, and endlessly returning in mind to memories of Spike and Scorpan. Though rough and unrefined, the latter was a noble hero. All of Ponyland was in his debt.

Then I was awakening in the Mushromp atop a bed of soft grass.

"Paradise!" Firefly darted around the giant mushroom which shaded me and called, "Paradise woke up!"

Chichi came around with the pink pegasus. Dark circles smudged the undersides of her eyes. "Are you back with us now?" the wizardess said.

I struggled to recall hours, days, interminable time, but it was no good. My memory was an overgrown forest filled with haze that would not part for me.

Then I saw a dark spire in the distance, and pain brought me clarity.

"Yes," I said slowly. "Though I do not wish to be."

"Understood," Chichi said. "You have endured a great deal."

"I don't understand," I said. "The Night has ended." So saying, I cast an uneasy gaze at the sunset. I wished I could persuade day to stay longer, to regrow the flowers of hope that had withered and shriveled in the darkness infesting my heart. "Our friends have been rescued against all odds. The day, if you will forgive the pun, is ours. Why do I still feel this pain?"

"It will take time," Chichi said.

I thought of the Dream Valley I had known. "When can you send us home, Chichi? I hope you won't be offended, but I miss Paradise Estate and my other friends so much. I think I could heal faster there." There where there was no death, no matter how I sought to remember. There where pain was only superficial and could be solved with tears, then forgotten.

"I'm sorry, Paradise," Chichi said.

I stiffened. Firefly gave me a sympathetic look, and I realized that she already knew what Chichi was going to say.

"I won't be able to send you home until I can acquire a new traveler's crystal from the University. Although light has returned to Dream Valley and the surrounding areas, the way to other lands remains blocked by a mysterious mist. I have tried daily to cross it, but every time, it sends me to the orchard…"

Chichi shivered violently.

"Orchard? I don't understand." But gazing at the ash-smears of the plum sky, glimpsing the ineffable blackness of Midnight Castle, suddenly I did.

"The residue of Tirek's presence is surely to blame. But don't worry. Moochie and I are certain it will lift. It's just a matter of time."


	12. The Pendant's Magic

Chapter Twelve: The Pendant's Magic

As the months passed, Fizzy, Galaxy, Shady, Gusty, Sweet Stuff, and I gradually discerned what the Moochick and Chichi were too kind to tell us, that we faced the very real possibility that we would not be able to return to Paradise Estate, Megan, and the others. During one of our discussions of the matter, Galaxy pointed out the oddity of the situation: we could not return to home as we knew it, yet in a sense, we already were home, and had been since the mirrors of Tambelon brought us here.

In Bowtie, Twilight, Firefly and the ponies who call this Dream Valley home, I glimpsed reflections of my sorrow, beginning with their return to Dream Castle. The sight of the ruins stunned them. Thereafter, the ponies debated starting over nearer the Mushromp or even living in the caves west of Dream Castle. There was talk of rebuilding the castle, but the ponies always spoke of the undertaking as a project for the distant future.

To keep busy, I helped organize the Moochick's library. Among the spellbooks and journals, I discovered many storybooks. I spent several afternoons reading them in the hope of cheering up. However, even the most heroic figures of legend seemed as caricatures of lofty nobility, the result of selective remembering. They never complained or felt uncertain. In anger, I shut the books and sought to lose myself in a long flight. However, flying invited its own reflections. I began to fear that my memories of Dream Valley were as biased as the storybooks I had just run away from. Furthermore, suppose Tambelon's invasion attempt had ravaged my home as Tirec and his minions had desecrated this realm? Just what would we six wanderers return home to?

One day as I moped about the Mushromp, too dejected even to fly, Chichi came dashing out of the main house. With one hand, she held a bunch of her skirt to keep from tripping. Her other thin arm crushed an immense book against her ribs.

"Paradise!" she called, swaying somewhat from her lack of balance.

I eyed her with sullen curiosity.

"Oh good, you do have it," Chichi said breathlessly. "I thought if you could get Moochie's library spic-n-span, we'd find one!"

"Find what?"

"A book that goes with your pendant! Now you can finally write your account!"

Curiosity's tiny flame ignited, and the gray clouds of my gloom drew back just perceptibly.

"Here." Chichi placed the book under a tall mushroom and beckoned to me. "It's a beautiful day to be outdoors and compose a long-awaited story."

She was right. Opal-hued clouds filled the sky like the scales of an immense fish swimming through the endless blue. The breeze whispered of autumn, promises of golden afternoons and long shadows. I settled down atop the grass and flipped open to the book's first page. "How does it work?" I asked Chichi.

"Just remember all that happened when you found the pendant, and it will compose for you from that point onward according to your memories. Since you like stories, you will probably find the account told in a remarkable voice." Chichi smiled sheepishly. "Whenever I keep logs this way, the tone is always very dry. But I suppose that is to be expected. Academia is rarely electrifying, and I've been part of magical universities for decades now. If you are comfortable with it, one day, I would be very interested in reading what you have written."

"Perhaps," I ventured. I had never been shy telling stories, but writing one was entirely different, especially since I was the main character. How many of my thoughts would be laid bare? How many moments of stupidity or cowardice? And most of all…how many regrets that no one else would understand? "Do you suppose the pendant could go farther back than when I found it?" I said, for I wondered if I might recapture some memories of the Dream Valley that was home to me.

"I'm not sure," Chichi said. "Though I can think of several colleagues who would. Drat that mist!"

"Mmm," I agreed. Chichi left soon after, and I set my mind to the surprisingly arduous task of remembering. At first, I tried to think of a summer night in my Ponyland, of dancing, laughing, music, and food. The memories seemed vivid enough to me, but the pendant did nothing. I frowned and spent several minutes seeking shapes in the clouds. After discovering a dragon, a serpent, and a running pony, I sighted one that resembled a gate. My heart beat a little faster as I recalled the gates of Tambelon that had shut on us. Blue light flashed at my neck. I nearly went cross-eyed in my attempts to see it before remembering that it was the pendant. Then it occurred to me to look at the book. Words were written there, not the blocky wedges of Tambelon, but the calligraphy that filled my favorite story books from home.

Thus encouraged, I tried three times more to write of my Ponyland. Each time the pendant did nothing. "All right," I said aloud, rather disgusted. "If we must begin in Tambelon…" I returned to the threads of thought I had begun weaving when I saw that cloud. The difference was as pronounced as running uphill versus downhill. I remembered things I had forgotten, saw more clearly events I thought I had understood the first time. The light shone on just below my half-lidded eyes until I found myself again under the mushroom. I opened my eyes all the way and flipped through the book in disbelief. Pages upon pages of neat calligraphy stared back at me. "That is magic," I whispered.

I marveled for a while longer, then found myself reading what the pendant had written. Afternoon and, occasionally, other ponies drifted by. At the end of the story, my story, I lifted my head. Evening was drawing her darker curtains over the land, and thicker clouds had rolled in. The sun's golden rays streamed out from them, shining a bright crown at the top of Midnight Castle.

The old sorrow ached as I looked at it, as I remembered Spike and Scorpan and many other ponies who had not returned. But at the same time, I marveled at how the black towers had changed for me. In mere days, they had gone from being Tirek's stronghold to the site of a great battle and the final resting place of two companions, each dear in his own way. Who could predict how the coming days would continue to change this abandoned bastion? Midnight Castle might stand for hundreds of years, a scar upon the land, but in time, those living beneath it would surely cease to see the monstrous edifice it had been.

I glanced down at the pendant. Its light had died. I lugged the book – no heavier for the writing within it, though I fancied it might be – into the Moochick's library and opened it atop one of the tables. There with ink and quill I painstakingly wrote these last words you read. (The cumbersome nature of the proceeding accounts for ponies' lack of literary accomplishment, however much they may enjoy reading.)

Though I long for home, to escape the sadness and difficulties I underwent in this place, I suppose that no traveler can really go home. Unless one stays at home all the time, it changes without you and then doesn't feel like home.

Therefore, I cannot wait to live. Even far from home, even if my heart aches from past hurts, I shall not wait. I shall strive to embrace each day and face each night with courage and faith in the dawn to come.

The end.

{-}

Bonus I: Author Musings

Has anyone heard of the novel _Gravity's Rainbow_? This is a blurb re it copied from

"The novel's title, _Gravity's Rainbow_, refers to the rocket's vapor arc, a cruel dark parody of what God sent Noah to symbolize his promise never to destroy humanity again. History has been a big trick: the plan is to switch from floods to obliterating fire from the sky."

I think Tirec would like this idea very much…brr.

BONUS II: something omake-style

[real conversation I had with my friend]

Wtdrgn: The MLP pilot episode was much darker than the rest of the series. There was this scary centaur Tirec who wanted to bring about the Night that Never Ends using his evil rainbow -

My irritatingly analytical friend: Why?

Wtdrgn: Why what?

My irritatingly analytical friend: What's the point of a Night that Never Ends?

Wtdrgn: Uh, er, well…

[later in my mind]

Tirec: Ha ha ha! First I'm going to usher in the Night that Never Ends. Then I will convert Midnight Castle to a nuclear power plant and supply electricity to Ponyland. Everyone will have the lights on all the time because of the never-ending darkness! Oh the nefarious wealth I will amass! Mwa ha ha ha!

Guard: Don't forget, sir, you can even indulge in pun-derful corporate slogans such as 'Behold the power of darkness!'

Tirec: Yesss!


End file.
